Where There's a Will
by Anya Maygo
Summary: I'd been toying with this idea for some time - ha, try since I saw Avatar, I'd been watching Mega Man long before that! - , and now here it is!
1. Avatar's First Day

Avatar's First Day

* * *

_**Will**_

I typed furiously at my keyboard, glancing every now and again at a manual next to me. "I've really put my foot in it this time! Why do I always have to let myself take 'You can't do this yourself' as a challenge? Well, I think I've got this just about figured out. Let's see…"

I punched in the last few keys, hit "enter," and swiveled around to stare at my PET. "Well?" I demanded of it, "Did I succeed in customizing my Navi?"

A steady hum answered me. Data streamed up onto the screen, spiraled around, and formed into a circle: black, with a green border and a stylized white…woodsprite!

"Yes!" I yelled, jumping from my chair and waving my fists in the air. "I did it! I customized my own Net Navi! Well," I amended, looking again at the symbol, "I started it, anyway. How long do I have to wait for the results?..."

Six hours.

"Alrighty," I stretched, pushing my fingers through my long, pale hair, "time for bed."

* * *

Personally, I hate people who are cheerful in the morning. Of course, it would help if I'd opted to go to bed at some time earlier than midnight this time.

But anyway, what woke me up was an accented female voice calling my name.

"I'm awake, I'm awake," I protested, rubbing one eye. "Wha…"

Finally, my sleep-bleary gaze locked onto my PET. There, standing in the picture, was a woman; blue-skinned with white specks like stars, a sleeveless red-brown uniform with the woodsprite-symbol on the chest, and matching helmet with a white rectangle on the front and, presumably, the same symbol covering each ear, she looked exactly like I'd intended her to. Her arms, with gloves matching her suit covering her hands, were folded, and she had an ironic tilt to one eyebrow, watching me with yellow eyes.

"Uh…" _Come _on,_ brain, wake up!_ "Am I right in guessing what your name is?"

She smiled. "I'm Avatar, you sleepyhead! Now get dressed, you've got plenty of chaos planned for today."

"You think you know me," I muttered as I got up. Unfortunately, she did. Well, I programmed her, after all; she'd know that I enjoyed proving myself as a very crazy teenage girl. (Caught you there, did I?) Seventeen – eighteen next month – and tall for my family, I got fully dressed in my favorite skin-tight pants with every color under the sun, white socks, and bright red shoes hiding inside blue roller-blades a size just enough larger for me to do this.

My only sticking point was picking a shirt. "Let's see…what color will I dye my hair today?"

* * *

I finally picked blue, yellow, and brown for my hair color, in honor of finishing Avatar, and chose a green shirt. Then I grabbed Avatar's PET and rolled out of my room to get breakfast.

My method of cooking usually involves throwing stuff around the room, though I'm just fast enough to where nothing actually hits the floor or breaks. I made myself a sausage-mushroom-and-cheese omelet, some bacon, and toast, while pouring some orange juice and digging out one of my muffins.

"Did the kitchen survive your antics?" Avatar asked wryly from my hip.

"Ah, knock it off. I've done that sort of thing for weeks and nothing's broken yet." I hesitated, and added, "Knock on wood."

She sighed, with just the right tone to where I could imagine her rolling her eyes.

_Sure, _I thought,_ we're going to argue about my usual behavior, because I programmed her with the option of developing her own personality. But I know we agree on what's important. And I _did_ program her with the knowledge that my actions aren't completely…well, that it's a put-on. Acting crazy is my way of coping with being an only child who's been missing a mother since birth and whose father's almost never around. Personally, I think he's ashamed of me for taking Mom away from him._

I glanced down at my hip and smiled. _Well, now Avatar can be my mom, sister, and best friend. Whatever she wants._

* * *

**A/N: If you're wondering what a "woodsprite" is, it's pretty important in the movie Avatar. Look it up. The next chapter will connect with the anime episodes directly. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!!! LEAST OF ALL RAIKA!!!!!**


	2. Interactions

Interactions

* * *

_**Maylu**_

When I heard Dex calling my name, I gave Lan a quick goodbye and rolled on ahead. I mean, I didn't really want to walk with Dex, but he doesn't know how to give up. Or take hints, for that matter.

I rounded a bend and nearly collided with a multi-colored blur! I would have fallen over if whatever it was hadn't caught me!

"Sorry about that! I was just – hey, May! I was just looking for you!"

Only one person called me that when saying hello. I looked up with a grin. "Hey, Will!"

Will's actually a few grades older than me and out of school, but she still likes hanging out sometimes. Neither of us thought to introduce her to Lan or Dex yet. It seems like her green eyes are almost always laughing, and no more so than today. "What happened?"

Her grin got even bigger. "I programmed my own NetNavi!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah! Someone said that I had to post an order for that sort of thing, but – wait…"she cocked her head and listened. Then I heard it too: Dex.

She tied the cord of her PET onto the handlebars of my scooter and told me, "Get on, I'll help you lose him."

Carefully, I got onto the scooter. Then she took off, pulling me behind her.

It wasn't as fast as she usually went, possibly because she was towing me. We got to my house and she finished her original sentence while freeing my scooter. "I didn't want to wait for the order to arrive if I did send one, so I just…found the information on how to make one myself."

I caught the hesitation. "You were hacking again?"

She straightened up, giving me a look of mock-indignation. "It was legit! I wasn't tapping some rich guy's bank account to get new rollerblades or anything! I was just finding some information!"

I just laughed. "So who's your NetNavi?"

She pulled out her PET and showed it to me. "Maylu, meet Avatar!"

"She's pretty!" She was, too, with those white speckles on her face and arms like glitter or stars.

"Thanks. I'm thinking of making some battle chips for her, too."

Avatar shook her head. "She just doesn't give up, does she?"

I laughed. Will's a constant comedian, and now I could just see Avatar as being her co-star.

Will grinned at me for a second, then asked as we went into my house, her face the very picture of innocent curiosity, "So what were you talking about before you had to run from Dex-the-Gorilla?"

"Ha! Um…what do you know?" I would ask how she knows it, but she's got pretty sharp ears, and probably heard me talking with Lan before I had to leave.

Her next words confirmed it. "You were talking with Lan about something, and he sounded sore."

"Oh. He's been losing Net Battles against Dex and GutsMan. He just doesn't have a customized NetNavi yet."

"Hm. Yeah, winning in a Net Battle against a custom Navi with a non-custom Navi is really hard. You have to know just what it's capable of and what battle chips to use when."

Roll suddenly spoke up from my PET. "Will, you had a winning streak even after more Navis were customized. Is it because of what you said?"

An outright impish grin took over her face. "Nah. Or only partly. It's because I…kind of enjoy using psychology on my opponents."

That made no sense. "Huh?"

Avatar answered. "She flirts with any male opponent. Says it's because it's easier to win when the guy's not thinking straight."

Will shrugged, her expression going casual-indifferent. "I told her that. She hasn't heard me."

I laughed. "Well, that'd work on Dex, that's for sure!"

She grinned back at me. "Hey, think I can meet these people sometime?" she asked, cocking her head.

"I don't see why not. How about tomorrow after school?"

Will instantly made a face. "That was when I was going to program some battle chips for Avatar. How about the day after?"

I shrugged. "Whatever works. Just send me an email when you're ready."

A wicked grin answered me. "I'm always ready, May. I just have a schedule to work around, that's all."

* * *

_**Avatar**_

We never did get around to that visit the day after. A fire started at Maylu's house, and she was taken to the hospital to make sure she was okay. I'd convinced Will that introducing herself to the boys without Maylu there to…buffer them against how she already knows their names wasn't such a good idea.

So she opted to stay home and add the finishing touches on my new battle chips.

Now, I know I complain a little about how she does things by herself, but I actually really liked those battle chips. Especially the Leonopteryx one, flying is amazing! I was also impressed with her total recall of all the creatures from my namesake movie: she'd made several each of viperwolves, hammerhead titanotheres, direhorses, sturmbeasts, and banshees. There was only the one Leonopteryx, but I didn't mind. She'd done some of the other creatures and plants, too, though I hadn't seen the point right off. She'll probably explain to me what they're for later.

* * *

**A/N: Wondering about those creatures? Look them up from Avatar. And in case you hadn't figured it out, that was along the same plotline as Megaman NT Warrior episode 1.**


	3. Introductions

Introductions

**A/N: This one comes between episodes 2 and 3.**

* * *

_**Lan**_

Whew. Am I glad I stopped that train! Though I wish that those guys with the hoses had checked first before they'd started spraying water into the car.

I was sitting outside the station with Maylu and Dex, air-drying. Ha, Dex was still trying to get the robo-cat off his leg.

"So, Maylu, you mentioned something right before we saw Maysa?" Megaman called up from my PET.

"Oh, right! Well, I wanted you guys to meet a friend of mine. She doesn't go to our school, or any school for that matter, but she's really fun. Her name's Will."

"Will? Isn't that a boy's name?" That was weird.

Maylu laughed. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure that's only a nickname, but she won't tell me her real name. Roll sent her an email, she should be here pretty quickly."

"Why doesn't she go to school?" Megaman asked.

"She's seventeen, Megaman." Roll answered him, sounding a little amused.

"Seventeen?" Dex yelped – another attempt of his had failed. "Why's she hanging out with you? I mean, not that you're bad to hang out with, but don't teenagers usually avoid younger kids?"

Maylu shrugged. "She didn't say why she hangs out with me, and I didn't ask." Then she cocked her head. "Hey Lan, do you hear that?"

"Uh…"I listened. I thought I heard wheels coming, but they seemed to be kind of fast for a scooter. "Yeah…"

"I bet that's her now."

Suddenly, somebody shot past us and skidded to a stop on Dex's far side! A teenager wearing rollerblades and the most insane-colored hair was standing there looking at us!

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hi, Will! This is Lan, and Dex is the boy with the cat on his leg. Lan, Dex, this is Will."

"Uh…hi."

"Yeah, whatever. Come on, you, get off!"

Will pulled the silliest sympathy-face at Dex. "Ooh, the kitty won't let go? Let's see what I can do about that." She knelt down next to him, ran her fingers over the robot, and removed a panel on its back. As she tinkered, she asked, "By the way, I know you've got Net Navis. Maylu told me some basics about Gutsman. But she hasn't actually mentioned yours yet, Lan."

I stared. "Maylu didn't tell you about Megaman?"

Maylu stopped me from saying anything else. "She doesn't stop by every day. I didn't really have time to tell her about Megaman."

"Ha!" Will finished her tinkering and slapped the panel back on. "Come on, Puss, let go…"

And it did! It dropped off Dex's leg and rubbed its head against her hand!

Dex, relieved to tears that it was off, immediately started thanking her.

"How'd she do that?" Megaman asked, sounding impressed.

Her head came up like some animal on a scent. "Was that Megaman?" I held up my PET and she glanced over. "Hi! To answer your question, I like trying out all sorts of stuff, just because I can."

"Uh…does that explain your hair?"

"Nope!" She tossed a green lock of it back over her shoulder.

"Nothing explains her hair," a new Navi's voice spoke up with a sigh. "It can get kind of annoying."

* * *

_**Megaman**_

On the Network, Gutsman, Roll and I all studied the new Navi.

"Hello. My name's Avatar. Will programmed me all by herself, with only some guidelines from the Net."

"Guts, guts!" Gutsman sounded impressed.

I walked over and held out my hand. "Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Megaman."

Her answering handshake was firm. "Nice to meet you, too."

Will laughed. "Turn around, Avatar!"

Avatar rolled her eyes, but she stepped back from me and, holding her arms out, turned in a slow circle. A long black braid hung down to her waist, and she had an equally long blue tail with a black tuft on the end that swished as she turned.

"Am I supposed to dance next? Because I'm not." She winked at me and added, "I've always wanted a chance to say that to her."

I could hear why: Will was laughing. Again.

"Does she always laugh?"

"Ah…no. Just when she's with friends."

* * *

_**Maylu**_

"Hey, Dex, how about a Net Battle?" Will asked.

"Well, I was going to challenge Lan to a rematch," he sounded reluctant to actually take that challenge.

"Please?" she begged, batting her eyes at him.

I watched with interest. This was the first time I'd seen her actually use this psychology trick.

It worked. Dex accepted her challenge.

* * *

Avatar whipped Gutsman. It wasn't Gutsman's fault, though: Dex was having a hard time picking the right battle chips, Avatar was way too fast for him, and Will kept distracting him with flirts.

The weird thing was, I could tell she didn't really mean anything she was saying. How come he couldn't?

As we all went home – Will chose to walk me home – I asked, "So, how often does your psychology work?"

"Nine times out of ten. Those boys should be ashamed of their gender."

I stared. "Nine times out of _ten?_"

"Yup!"

"You didn't mean half of today's cracks, though."

"Nope. If I was battling Lan, it'd be different. Lan I actually think is kind of cute."

I laughed a little, feeling my face getting kind of warm.

"Megaman's _really_ cute."

"Will, do you have a crush on a NetNavi? He's too young for you, and not your type."

"Hey!"

That really set me laughing. Partly, it was because I agreed.


	4. New Girl in Town

New Girl in Town

* * *

**_Avatar_**

I was visiting Roll, Gutsman and Megaman at the school's mainframe when the new Navi showed up. He was a little shorter than me, with more armor and sleek wings.

"Greetings and salutations. With your kind permission, allow me to introduce myself. I am Glyde. Not only…"

Right around there I tuned him out and looked sidelong at Megaman.

Megaman tried to be friendly, but Glyde just walked around him and declared it an "honor" to meet Roll. Kissed her hand, even! It figures he noticed Roll – she's brighter than me, cuter, and I was leaning on Gutsman's shoulder anyway. I didn't mind.

Speaking of Gutsman…he didn't like that. At all. He moved to her side to get all defensive, and didn't warn me first. I wondered as I fell, what Will would think of Glyde's NetOp.

* * *

_**Lan**_

We found Will after school. Well, she found us. Today, her hair was pink with grey speckles. "Hey, Will, did you know there's a new girl at school?"

"I saw the limo."

"What's wrong, Will?" Megaman asked, sounding a little shaky for some reason. "You don't sound too, um…enthusiastic. Don't you like newcomers, if only for the chance to shock them?"

She sighed. "Yai's a spoiled brat. I don't approve of spoiled brats. Besides, she only comes up to my knee while I have my roller blades on, and I'm supposed to bow before her and pretend she's a princess?"

"Well…Dex and I are going by her house later today. Want to come?"

She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "No. I'll meet her face-to-face on my own terms."

"I told her she wouldn't mind meeting Glyde. I certainly didn't mind, though he did talk a bit more than was necessary," Avatar piped up.

"I'll still wait for my own terms."

Then it occurred to me: Will was holding my PET! "How'd you – "

She grinned and gave it back to me. "I was wondering when you'd notice that. You were still recovering from my quick spin-up. I'll probably pull that trick on you guys the most."

Okay...well, why not? As long as she didn't just do it to me, and always gave the PET back, it wasn't a problem.

* * *

_**Megaman**_

The next day, we ran into this insane traffic jam! Lan jacked me into the system, where we found Glyde in pretty bad shape, and Avatar dancing around playing tag with another Navi!

Avatar vaulted backward next to me. "That Navi's named Wackoman, and he's the clown responsible for the traffic lights and hurting Glyde."

"Thanks for the tip."

Lan had to unplug the PET to find a better jack-in spot, leaving me dealing with him using only my Mega-Buster. Glyde gave directions to a bathroom for Yai, and then I didn't hear anything more from Lan for a while.

"Boomerang Bola!" Avatar's weapon worked…kind of.

"You lasted this long with that?"

"Chill. It's my auto-programmed weapon, and it works fine against viruses! Will, give me a battle-chip!"

"Sure thing! Direhorse Bow, battle chip in, download!"

The bow that formed over her hand had to be almost as tall as she was! After she fired that thing once, we didn't have to deal with the ball anymore!

"Thanks!" I called to…was I talking to Will, or Avatar?

"No problem, Sweetheart!"

_Um…was she flirting with me?_ Thankfully, Lan got back to me right around then, so I didn't have to answer that.

One Cyber Sword, and I'd gotten Wackoman to log out. Avatar smiled at me. "We make a pretty good team, you know that?"

"Yeah."

* * *

_**Yai**_

I came to school the next day in my new pink limo, actually feeling very happy about being friends with Lan and his friends.

After school, I was walking with them. "Tell me again why I'm walking?"

"We already told you," Maylu sounded tired, "we're going to find Will. She might as well meet you now. You might have already seen her NetNavi, Avatar."

"Oh yeah! Glyde told me about her."

"Yeah. Just warning you, though," Lan told me, "Will can be a little…crazy."

"Crazy how?"

Before he could answer, suddenly something vaulted right over my head! "Whoops!"

"AAH!" I ducked my head, screaming.

When I looked up, the strangest, tallest mirage ever was standing in front of me, looking at me with…disdain? Her hair was red, orange, and yellow, somehow patterned like fire.

"For crying out silently," she sounded purely disgusted, "my wheels didn't even _touch_ your head!"

"It's only human nature, Will," Avatar's voice came from her hip, "If something comes at a human's head, they'll duck. It's the same with navis."

"I meant the scream."

"Hey, Will!" Lan laughed. "Still in fine form, huh?"

"Yup!" And she spun a PET on her finger. It seemed familiar…

She turned the screen towards herself and said, "You must be Glyde. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

My hand snapped to my hip – my PET really _was_ in her hand! "How did you – "

"Sorry, Yai." Lan really did sound sorry. "If I'd had just a little more time, I would have mentioned that. She likes grabbing PETs right off their NetOps, purely for the shock value."

Will gave back my PET, which I carefully studied to be sure it was okay. "Are you okay, Glyde?"

"Yes, Miss Yai." He did sound a little shaky, though.

I looked up. "How often are you going to do that?"

"To you? Probably one time out of ten. You're too short for that to be regular practice."

"Oh." Was that an insult, or a compliment? Her tone wasn't that easy to translate. Oh, well.

* * *

**A/N: Episode 3 gets credit for this chapter.**


	5. Tricky Situations

_**Tricky Situations**_

**Megaman**

This was nuts! Numberman had just locked Glyde into a Net Battle, and me out of it! Higsby had complete control of the system, and neither Lan nor I knew what to do!

Then Roll spoke up. "Wait, I know how we can get in: Will!"

"Will?" Lan repeated.

"Yeah! Will's a really good hacker! I'll bet she can get in without any trouble at all. I'll send her an email!"

"Will she get here in time?"

"If she wants to, she'll show up in less than a minute."

Roll sent off the email, and I started counting off the seconds. I got to forty-five when suddenly, Avatar appeared within the mainframe!

"Piece of cake," Will commented from outside. "Just queue-link up to it, Avatar, and I'll be through in no time!"

Avatar walked over to the shield. Her braid curved up and over her shoulder, and the tip merged into the wall. _So _that's_ how she analyzes data._

Before too long, the shield came down, and Avatar leaped into action, vaulting right over an exhausted Glyde to pull him out of the way of another explosion!

"Boomerang Bola!"

It spiraled towards Numberman, caught him around the ankles, and knocked him flat!

"And _that_," Avatar smiled at me, "is how it's _supposed_ to work."

"Oh."

"Wide Sword battle chip in, download!"

I leaped forward, slicing through a dice that Numberman managed to throw from the floor, and –

He surrendered! Just like that!

**Will**

I rolled my eyes, twirling a fire-patterned strand of hair. "Some people have no fire. You think he'd take getting logged out."

After the weird guy Higsby was given a second chance, I looked at Yai. "Hey, Yai, is Glyde okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. I guess I'll just have to work a bit harder with him before he's really ready to Net-Battle."

"Yeah, probably. I'm glad to hear it."

* * *

I ended up getting a good laugh just a few days later: Maysa took it into his head to get Lan, Maylu, Dex and Yai all pumped into shape outside! I managed to talk him out of doing me…sort of.

"Maysa, I'm in perfect peak condition, I get all my calcium, and I spend just as much time outside as in front of a computer screen!"

He waved a finger in front of my face. "Ah, but do you know your fish facts?"

All I could do was stare at him. "And…fish have to do with the everyday lives of non-fisherfolk…how?"

I opted to go with them on their little…workout. After all, I needed to keep practicing anyway. I outdistanced them every time on all of Maysa's challenges...

Except the baseball one. I…don't…play…baseball.

"I bet Lan's probably hating this," Megaman commented.

"I bet the same for Maylu!" Roll replied.

I didn't hear Gutsman or Glyde answer that, but I figured they'd agree.

"Will's probably not _hating_ this, per se, but I know she's never played baseball and she doesn't like being made to do anything."

_Bingo, Avatar. He's making me try to catch these missiles of idiotic sport._

* * *

I almost felt sorry for the four of them after about an hour of this. Then Maysa dropped another surprise on us: our snack.

I stared at the cracker in my hand. "Last time I checked, fish heads weren't supposed to be edible, even if they were ground up and made into something that looked like food."

Yai started complaining. Shocker. Lan actually agreed with her, though, which was surprising since I thought Lan would eat anything.

Dex liked them, though. I ate mine purely because Yai was complaining, and pretended to like it.

Then Maysa pulled out his slideboard of fish facts.

_This is going to be the most boring part of my life. I actually do know some fish facts…probably not as many as Maysa thinks I need to know, but some._

Lan started begging Megaman to get him out of this. Megaman, though, couldn't get Lan out of this any more than I could.

If it's not hacking, it's a toss-up for if I can get out of it. And here, I lost the coin toss.

Things got more interesting when fish started flying by!

* * *

**Megaman**

Lan jacked me into a computer, with Yai doing the same for Glyde and Will doing the same for Avatar. "Stream over to the aquarium. We'll meet you there."

"Roger that. We're on our way."

We made it there…

But it wasn't long before Avatar and I fell under the surface and into the midst of a bunch of jellyfish viruses!

"I can't fight them with my Boomerang Bola," Avatar told me as she was dodging and taking hits, "it doesn't work underwater!"

After about ten more hits, I'd had enough and got out of the water, with Avatar following close behind.

Then the biggest jellyfish virus ever came out of the hole!

"Momma's home!" Glyde sounded worried.

"They morphed!"

"How do we fight that without battle chips? I don't have anything that's good against water!"

* * *

**Will**

Maysa took off out of our dead end, making the robo-shark chase after him. "After catching these guys all these years, it's only fair they have a shot at me for a change!"

I grabbed Lan's wrist. "Come on, Lan, let's go save our Navis!"

We dodged under the tentacles of a giant robot squid and made it into the control room, where we jacked in and saved Megaman from the virus's tentacles.

"Here, Avatar, here's your Direhorse Bow! I know it packs more punch!"

"Thanks, but I'm not sure how much good it'll do."

Then they had to endure a tidal wave!

I nearly got hit by a flying fishbone arrow, and the battle chip tied to it did bop my head.

Lan downloaded it onto Megaman. "Megaman, it's weakness is electricity!"

* * *

**Avatar**

It wouldn't hold still! Megaman kept pointing the Electro Sword at it, but it kept dodging!

"I'd use my Boomerang Bola to stop it, but I don't think it'd work."

Then, for some unfathomable reason, it stopped!

The results are obvious.

Lan cheered down, "You're the man, Megaman!"

Then another Navi came over! For all that he had big teeth, he didn't seem inclined to attack, and instead told us that we helped each other and thanked us.

"I just want to know one thing," Megaman asked, "who are you?"

"You can just call me Sharkman. We'll meet again, Megaman!" Then he just logged out.

"Sharkman? I thought he was just a legend." That was Megaman.

"I wonder if we'll ever see him again." Glyde, of course.

_Who's Sharkman?_

* * *

**Will**

Lan told everyone how he managed to beat the virus, and gave the credit to Maysa.

"Hey Lan," Megaman called, "I think there's more to Maysa than meets the eye, don't you?"

Personally, I agreed. There was more to Maysa than he was letting on.

* * *

**A/N: Which episodes are spoofed? ...I had to go back and fix a lot of this, so I'm not going to bother mentioning which episodes I based the chapters on for the ones I had to fix.**


	6. New Tournament?

New Tournament?

* * *

_**Will**_

I wheeled past a long line outside Higsby's shop and heard Lan arguing with Maysa. Apparently, the old fish-guy wasn't happy about Lan, Maylu and Dex waiting in line for some new videogame.

_Sheesh. Even though this game's new, I bet my blonde-and-purple-striped hair that I could win it on my first try._

Miss Mari turned up and succeeded in calming Maysa down, for about two seconds before Higsby brought his attention back to himself, that is.

I just shook my head.

"Well, Will, are you getting in line for that game?" Avatar asked me.

"Nah. I always wait until the big commotion dies down. That's when the games are the cheapest, after all: first they top out in sales, then they bottom out."

"Ah."

Then Yai pulled up in her limo, saying we could come over to her house to play before it ever hit the market!

I spun over. "Mind if I tag along?"

Yai smiled at me. "Not at all! Just don't swipe Glyde again!"

I just laughed. "Why would I do that? I've already done my PET-swipe of the day." And with that, I twirled Maylu's from my finger.

* * *

I glared down the table at Lan and Dex. They were shoveling their dinner as fast as they could.

"Hey, Lan," Megaman called up from his PET, "maybe we should get you a trough!"

I rest my case.

I also wasn't sure how much I liked Yai's dad; practically all she had to do was bat her eyelashes at him, and he said that we could play the game before it was released.

He told us about the Level 9 security on the mansion, and the Level 10 security on the game system itself. Personally, I thought I could hack my way through it without any real trouble at all, but I was too polite to say so. He also told us that we couldn't play the game until midnight tonight.

_Did I really want to play a videogame that badly?_

* * *

While all the others were staring at Yai's clock, I was stretched out along the back of the sofa they were sitting on. Yai'd told me not to do that, but I didn't care – they took up all the room on the sofa.

I looked at my PET. "And sometimes I wonder why Maysa approves of me more than them."

"Let me guess: tonight's not one of those times?"

"Called it; this is boring."

* * *

Finally, it was almost midnight.

"Seven, six, five, four," Lan, Yai, and Maylu started counting down.

"What is this, New Years?" I yawned.

Then the screen went pixilated!

I sat up and vaulted over to the screen, all sleepiness gone. "Well, this promises to be more interesting!"

Count Zap showed up on our screen, stated that he was going to steal the videogame, and started laughing. Dex's pants caught fire for some reason, and a clear wall came down, separating Lan and me from the rest of them!

"Don't worry," Yai yelled through, "that's just to keep the fire contained!"

Lan and I jacked in Megaman and Avatar to deal with the problem.

* * *

_**Avatar**_

It was Elecman, telling us that we were already too late.

"Why does it have to be like this?" Will complained. "Of all the World 3 Navis I've seen, Elecman's the cutest!"

Well, his reaction was priceless: he flinched a little, with pure embarrassment spreading over his face.

"Will has that effect on people, doesn't she?" I taunted.

After a short stint…Megaman was winning…then Elecman was winning! Of course, the Lightning battle chip he'd just received to hit Megaman seemed to make him forget that I was even there. Let's refresh his memory banks.

"Boomerang Bola!" I succeeded in tripping him up.

That just got him shooting at me for a while.

* * *

_**Will**_

Count Zap told us the point to his stupid plan. "Can't you just imagine it? Children miserable and their parents powerless to help!"

"That is the most idiotic plan I've ever heard," I remarked.

He stupid-fell out of the picture, and then leaped up again. "Just for that, I ought to delete your Net Navi first, you Technicolor-world reject!"

"Stop complimenting me!" I yelled back. "Direhorse Bow battle chip in, download!"

* * *

_**Megaman**_

Being called a "Technicolor-world reject" was a compliment?

Still, even with Will angry and Avatar with a stronger weapon, we were still having a hard time. Then a Navi named Woodman showed up and cut off Elecman's power supply!

Avatar and I both lunged in – well, I lunged in with an Electro-sword; Avatar just fired off a bolt past me.

"You won," Elecman gasped, "but I'll be back." Then he logged out.

"You know, a lot of people say that," Avatar commented. "I've heard Will's opponents say that to her a lot."

Woodman logged out, with an "Until we meet again" line.

* * *

_**Will**_

So Woodman's Net-Op is named Black Rose, huh? My ears said I'd met her before, under another name. If I could just pinpoint who…

* * *

The next day, Lan pulled a great prank on Maysa, and Higsby mentioned a Net-Battle tournament in two weeks!

"Let me guess," Avatar commented from my hip, "you're going to enter the N-1 Grand Prix, aren't you?"

"Well…_maybe_…"

* * *

**A/N: Episode 6 takes credit. And guess what that "_maybe_" really translates to? ^_^**


	7. N1 Grand Prix, part 1

N1 Grand Prix, part 1

* * *

_**Will**_

Two more weeks until the Grand Prix; how cool is that?

I was rolling around the city without really doing anything, and certainly not watching TV. Then I saw people acting like animals everywhere! In fact, the only people who weren't hypnotized…

Were Lan and Maylu!

I went with Lan and jacked Avatar in to follow MegaMan. Then I had to help Lan fight off a pack of wolf-people.

Dex and Yai came and helped us out…though they still thought that they were animals. Maylu led us to the TV building.

* * *

_**Avatar**_

I couldn't stand how much MagicMan was throwing out rhymes and viruses. Lan and Will finally got here and gave us some battle chips. But even that wasn't enough to beat him…

Until ProtoMan showed up and got MagicMan's attack to go right back at him!

Yes, I knew who ProtoMan was. Thanks to Will, I'd kept up that much with the news. She forgets things quicker than I do.

* * *

_**Will**_

Chaud always impressed me with his two-toned hair and stunning blue eyes. Yeah, he was too young for me, but I can be infatuated, right?

His reply to Lan's "I saw your NetBattle; you're really good. What's your name?" was pretty funny, too, since he answered Lan's comment in order: "Gee, thanks. I'm Chaud."

_Was it just me, though, or was he being just a little sarcastic?_

He told Lan not to blow MegaMan's rep before the Grand Prix and started walking away. Then he stopped just after he passed us. "Oh, and Zebra-Hair?"

That got my attention. Well, my hair really was purple-and-yellow zebra-striped today. "It's Will."

"Will. Watch out for your NetNavi; she's getting a pretty decent reputation herself. Later."

_That was weird._

* * *

The weeks passed quickly. Then we had to catch NumberMan, who'd gone nuts. Avatar and the other Navis went whipping, but he was kicking them!

_**Avatar**_

It took IceMan and another Navi showing up in succession of each other to defeat NumberMan. Then that Navi just left.

"Who are you?" Megaman yelled after him.

"I…believe his name's SkullMan. He's a NetSaver's NetNavi."

_**Will**_

The coolest thing was how we all got to the N1 Grand Prix in time: Yai had her own private jet! I may come close to hating Yai, but she does come in handy.

…It'd have been more dramatic for Dex if he hadn't fallen off his rope. Still, he did win his match.

On the screen, Chaud and Protoman won their match in just twelve seconds!

Lan was fired up to battle and win. I looked at my PET. "Hey, Avatar, am I the only one worried about what's coming?"

"That depends on what you think is coming. Still…you do have a pretty decent sixth sense."

"I was afraid you'd remember that."

* * *

The next match was between Tory and IceMan, versus RocketMan and whoever his Navi was. It was over in less than a minute, with IceMan winning!

Later, we hung out with Lan, Miss Mari, and Maysa. Maysa had us choke down sardines.

Well…Lan will eat anything.

And after that, it started to storm.

* * *

Lan's match started against Miyu and her mysterious NetNavi. Lan won. It took about five minutes, but he won with some Mini Boomers.

Did I mention I was bored?

The storm cleared after that Net Battle.

* * *

My NetBattle was a success; with Avatar's battling skill and my flirtation skill, my male opponent didn't stand a chance, and I bested him in ten seconds.

I waved off the frog-hat reporter. "My secret is, I programmed almost all my battle chips myself, and so I'm the only one who knows how to use them properly."

_I wonder how the others will do?_

**A/N: Episodes...well, definitely ten and eleven take credit, plus one more before that.**


	8. N1 Grand Prix, part 2

N1 Grand Prix, part 2

* * *

_**Will**_

I was actually bored for most of the tournament. One of the most exciting things that happened was when I was defeated.

Which wasn't until the second round; I actually lost on purpose, because I just didn't have my heart in it.

I went to a party between rounds one and two. One that Chaud kind of blew with rudeness. Although Lan pulled a sweet shot against some viruses during a Net Battle with the creep by using something called Program Advance – by accident!

It occurred to me that I could program something like that into my own battle chips…if I could just figure out what it'd be like.

Lan did manage to use it…kind of…in his next match. But Chaud used it perfectly against Count Zap!

* * *

One of the more exciting things that happened was two twin Net Battlers who mysteriously won by default every time who ended up being solo Net Navis.

Lan and Commander Beef started a double-battle against the Solo Navis, but Sharkman ended up too damaged to battle, thanks to the two cheaters leaving the arena for a short time.

Afterward, I talked with Commander Beef. "Listen, Beef? I know who you really are. I'm not sure how you managed to fool Lan and the others with that copy, but I know you're Maysa." Before he could protest, I held up my hands. "Don't worry: I'm discreet. I won't tell Lan if you don't want me to."

"Well…" Then he took his helmet off and shook hands with me. "All right, you guessed it. You've really been eating your calcium! And I'll hold you to that promise!"

* * *

**A/N: Episodes 15 through 17 take credit. I know, this chapter was kind of short compared to the others; the next one will be longer and be based on four episodes.**


	9. N1 Grand Prix, part 3

N1 Grand Prix, part 3

* * *

_**Will**_

Probably one of the most exciting things to happen was when Lan and Chaud got partnered against those stuck-up solo Navis!

But I'm getting ahead of myself a little. Something happened before that.

We were having a picnic outside for the hour before that match. Lan couldn't relax.

"Hey, chill," I punched Lan's shoulder. "You'll win! Those creeps are so stuck-up that they won't see what hit them!"

He gave me a funny look. "This from the girl who decided to dye her hair black for once."

I pushed my hair off my neck so that they could see underneath. "Hey! I call this style Hidden Rainbow – it's not completely black!" I actually don't do black that often; the temporary black hair dye I have comes off pretty easily.

"Whatever," Yai commented, "what Lan should be worried about is that big brat Chaud."

_Um…since when is she _not_ a big brat herself?_

She got into a bit of a rant about Chaud. I ignored her and looked right past her.

Chaud was coming up behind her. _Gee, I wonder how long she'll keep talking before she notices that…_

"He's right behind me, isn't he?"

_Bingo._

"Yep," he answered her. It's annoying yet funny how he answers stuff about himself!

Then he suddenly got rude to Lan. I was considering getting up and slapping the creep, only that would involve tripping over Yai.

_Why does Chaud so enjoy baiting Yai like he does?_

Though he had a funny finishing line to her: "Be careful, or that vein on your forehead's gonna pop. See ya, Miss Big Forehead."

I winced as he walked away. One thing Yai didn't like getting referenced was her forehead.

Then I managed to slip into Yai's limo-taxi as we both went away. "Gee, you sure take offense to Chaud's comments easily."

"AAH! When did you get in?"

"You were occupied. Since I don't have any Net Battles anymore in the tournament, and since you were going to get some strawberry milk anyway, could you maybe order me a chocolate?"

My weakness, right there: chocolate. It's as big a deal to me as strawberry anything is for Yai.

"Will would sell her soul for a triple-chocolate sundae," Avatar remarked.

"I would not!"

"Oh, right, my mistake: she'd tell them to drown it in hot fudge and then she'd consider it."

I face-palmed. It wasn't that I was particularly mad or anything; it was that she was almost right.

Almost.

Yai laughed. "Okay…maybe not that magical sundae, but I could order you a chocolate milk."

I matched her strawberry milk for chocolate milk, just because I could. Then, wonder of wonders, Chaud walked by with a couple security guys!

"What's _he_ doing here?"

She and I slipped pretty close. He was sitting with a woman, security guys were standing all around them, and it looked to me like some business exchange. _Can't his dad give him a moment's peace in a tournament?_

I was pretty amused at how Yai's 'cover' – a cart – got moved away. I was choosing to hide in plain sight by lollygagging around a short wall, pretending to read a hotel flyer.

I found her again next to an elevator. "Maybe I'm mistaken about what's going on, but that seemed to cause you more stress than your last encounter." My casual way of saying, "Be more careful."

"Whatever. How did you avoid notice anyway?"

"Ain't telling."

Then, right after we decided to head back, Chaud started coming our way!

Yai dragged a cart into an elevator and hid behind it. I rolled in after and sat down on top of the cart, choosing to ignore her by reading that flyer again.

It almost worked. But Chaud got into the elevator, too!

_This is going to be interesting._

I swear, we went up two or three floors before Chaud said anything, and that wasn't to me. "You can come out now. With that big forehead, you might as well try and hide the moon back there."

_Oooh…_

She popped up and started shouting.

At that moment, I was more a fan of Chaud. After all, he hadn't tried to snoop, and he wasn't making a fool of himself by yelling.

Right after Yai protested that she needed milk, Chaud glanced at me. "So…why are _you_ here?"

I closed the flyer. "Beats being bored."

"Is that your answer to everything?"

"Does it matter?"

Then the elevator stopped and the lights went out!

Yai jumped and grabbed hold of Chaud's arm.

"Um…Yai? You're cutting off the circulation to my hand."

"Yeah?" She jumped back, though. "Well, it's not like I was scared or anything!"

"Of course not, and I totally believe you!"

"Riiight, and I have a rare battle chip to sell you," I remarked sarcastically, as he walked over to the elevator door. "I think I love you right now, though."

He pushed a red button a couple times. "Gee, another addition to my fan club. I'm honored."

"You can quit messing with the call button, by the way, the power's totally out in this elevator."

Yai started yelling at Glyde. "I'll die if I have to stay in here with this big jerk!"

"He's not his normal charming self?"

"Why, Glyde," I glanced down with a grin, "was that _sarcasm_?"

Yai declared that Chaud was making her nauseous.

I rolled my eyes. "_She's_ making _me_ nauseous. I'm out of here." I carefully climbed up onto the cart and started fussing with the ceiling panel, bracing my roller-blade stops so I wouldn't move.

"I won't tell you to stop," Avatar remarked from my hip, "but you'll climb faster without your roller blades on."

"Good point. They're staying on until I get on top, though."

I sensed Chaud watching me work. Probably better that than listening to Yai, I guess.

According to Protoman, the match would start in twenty-three minutes.

Then, while I was on top of the elevator and tying my roller blades around my neck by their laces, I heard Chaud say softly, "Not a bad idea, Will." When I glanced over, he was climbing onto the cart after me.

A few entertaining comments back and forth between Yai and Chaud, one of which had Chaud throwing her comment about nausea back at her, and then he looked up at me. "Oh, you're still there?"

I rolled my eyes and grinned. "Sure." Then I held my hand out to him. "Need help?"

He ignored me and pulled himself up. Then we both looked up at the ladder. "Who goes up first?" I asked.

Chaud bowed slightly at me, gesturing at the ladder. "Ladies first. I insist."

He seemed to be finding all the right things to say to get me grinning. "Why thank you, sir." Then I started mounting the ladder quickly.

I did hear him start climbing after me. Mostly I was ignoring him. "Avatar? Tell me when I hit the emergency exit, will you?"

"Okay." A moment later, she added, "I still don't think this is a good idea. Take a note of that, okay?"

"Sure, but aren't you the one who keeps the records?"

"You're right! I think I'll take that note right now."

She's funny sometimes.

Then Yai came out of the elevator to follow us. If I had to guess why, it was because she needed a bathroom. I could take the same amount of milk she could, for longer, I guess; I was fine.

I ignored them until suddenly I heard a loud Yai-scream. It nearly made me fall off the ladder.

Below me, I heard Chaud say, "Man, you are one high-maintenance little girl."

If the fading voices behind me were anything to go by, Chaud had gone back down to help her up the ladder! He could be a really sweet guy when he wanted to be!

When I reached the level with the exit, I glanced down. About the time I could easily see Chaud and Yai, the door opened.

We got out and I got my roller blades back on and opted to go with Chaud. Yai still seemed petrified, and staying with her would just be boring.

Yai sent her taxi-limo to pick us up, and we both started back.

He looked at me. "Why are you coming along again?"

"Beats being bored."

Oh! I got him to smirk!

"Oh, and by the way? You're going to have very little time to get to the field, so I'm going to offer you a lift on my back. I have longer legs than you, I can run faster, and I have wheels."

He considered that. Then he shrugged. "Whatever. Your choice."

We got there, two minutes were left. I leaped out of the limo and started rolling, not too fast. Chaud ran next to me, set his hand on my shoulder, and vaulted onto my back like I was a horse. I yelled, pulling into high gear, "Make way for the Wilhelmina Express!"

I made it to the doorway to the arena in under a minute. "Thank you for riding the Wilhelmina Express, please don't stand until the ride has come to a complete stop!"

Chaud leaped off my back and landed on his feet while I skidded around and stopped.

"Whoa! Okay, Cat-boy, you've got to teach me how to do that!"

"Thank you. I owe you one…Wilhelmina?"

I touched the back of my head sheepishly. "Um…yeah, that's my actual name." Then I grinned at him. "And as for owing me anything, find time later to give me a kiss, and I'll call it even." I was, um, only partly serious. I really was considering kissing him for all his remarks at Yai's expense.

He gave me a weird "are-you-kidding?" look right before he went out.

I watched him walk and looked at my hand, which now had black on it. "You think I should tell him he has some black dye on the right side of his face?"

"He's gone, Will. Don't worry about it. Go find your seat."

* * *

**A/N: Four episodes? Did I say _four_ episodes? I meant one: episode 20. :}**


	10. N1 Grand Prix, part 4

N1 Grand Prix, part 4

* * *

**_Lan_**

"About time! Where were you, anyway, and what's with your face?"

"Does it really matter?" I got him to touch the black patch on his face, though. "And…I'd taken the express."

"Well, whatever."

But then, Megaman was fighting by himself and being creamed! Then Chaud started fighting by himself!

_**Will**_

I was impressed with Protoman's power, but Chaud was just a big jerk. _Why did I help him again?_

Megaman ended up hidden under a big metal pile right as Blasterman was logged out. I watched from the sidelines where I'd dropped Chaud off.

Then it looked like Stoneman was done, for about two seconds until the regeneration program kicked in.

Then Protoman was getting squished, and Chaud wasn't using the Program Advance! Just when it looked like Protoman was going to be deleted, Megaman vaulted out again and saved the guy!

Megaman ended up using Program Advance instead, and just about finished the match! Protoman ended up finishing it for real. The final match, whenever it is, will be between Chaud and Lan!

I glanced at my hands. _Look at me – I'm shaking!_

"Will?"

I looked up. I didn't have to look up very far – Chaud's shorter than me. "Hm?"

He looked up at me for a second, still with the black dye on one side of his face. Then he said, "Bend down."

_Getting it over with, hm? Well, I suppose I can understand him not wanting me holding it over his head for the rest of the tournament._ I let one roller-bladed foot slip from under me and knelt down as far as I needed to get eye level with him.

After looking at me for a second longer, Chaud set his hand on my shoulder and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "There. Are we even?"

Straightening up again, I wiped some of the dye from his face with my sleeve. "Yeah. We're even."

* * *

NEXT DAY

Once I got my hair dyed, I ran out to meet the others, and we started a cheer for Lan and Megaman just to get his attention.

We all gave Lan good-luck wishes.

"By the way," Lan laughed, "I like your hair, Will."

I laughed back, stroking my blue hair, which I was wearing up in a bun that day.

"Oh, that's not even the crazy part," Maylu added. "Will, turn around!"

I turned with a grin. The bun was patterned red, yellow, and black – in Megaman's symbol!

"Check it out, Megaman," Lan was probably holding up his PET behind me, "nothing like your own fan club!"

_**Megaman**_

How does Will do that? Anyway, I was receiving my own good-luck wishes from everyone's Navis, up to and including Avatar and the Net Savers' Navis. Avatar actually hugged me! "Stay strong, Megaman."

**_Will_**

I was jumpy before the match.

And as for during the match…

That was the tensest few moments of my life! Nothing Megaman was doing was working!

Though then he managed to dodge a powerful move, and a chaotic swordfight started!

And the arena started falling apart!

Everyone else started running, but I stayed put, bracing my skate-stops to stay in one place, watching the match!

"Will, don't you think you should run?" Avatar asked me.

"I'm not leaving without these two!"

"Okay…" She was using her "this isn't a good idea" voice, though.

Light started shining brightly, and the fighting got even tougher!

Then they both throttled out with Program Advance!

I couldn't see what was happening!

But then, I could: Protoman won.

At least Protoman was a good sport and helped Megaman up. Then –

A shot from nowhere! Megaman shoved Protoman out of the way and got deleted by it! The culprit was a Navi named Pharaohman!

I wheeled over to the arena, dodging falling debris, and caught both of the battlers. "Come on, let's find a way out of here!"

Lan, Maysa and I were hanging from one helicopter, and the news crew and Chaud were hanging from another one. Both battlers looked in shock, and I could guess why: Lan couldn't grasp that Megaman was gone, and Chaud was horrified at the damage his Net Battle had caused.

I just looked up at Lan. _Poor guy. What can I say?_


	11. Operation: Megaman Recovery!

Chapter 11

Will

The next day, we went to visit Lan and find out how he was doing. The most amusing thing his mom said was when she told us about last night. "He said he had no appetite and that he was just going to go up to his room to do homework. I thought someone had replaced my son!"

I tried not to snicker.

Then she surprised us all by saying he'd gotten up early! "Maybe we should hide Megaman more often!" I remarked.

Then it looked like it was going to rain, so we left.

"Poor Lan. I wish there was something I could do."

"Oh, so you're _not_ all-powerful?" Avatar teased. Then she sobered up again. "But I know we all feel the same way."

Night fell, and I was just typing randomly on my computer. Dinner had been remarkably good, even though I'd joined Dad at the table. Maybe it was because I'd let him talk and hadn't made any snide remarks for once. Either that, or he's forgiven me for causing Mom's death, but that might be too much to hope for.

Suddenly…

"Will?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"There's, ah…something new in my PET, and I didn't put it there."

"Hm?" I leaned over and looked. Avatar was staring at the lower right corner of her screen at a spinning yellow ring. "I don't know…let's see…" I tapped a couple keys. "Queue-link with it, will ya?"

Her braid swiveled around and looped into the spinning ring, causing it to temporarily stop moving. But then it spun again, actually getting her queue tangled up in it. "Whoa!" She pulled her queue free before it really got stuck. "Sorry, I don't think I can."

"It's okay…let's just go find Lan in the morning."

NEXT DAY

Well, I found Lan. He was standing in the fog, staring after Chaud. "What's up?"

"Did Chaud just thank me? For saving Protoman, I mean."

"Since I only just got here, I can't say. But here, I have something to show you." I gave him Avatar's PET.

He took one look at the screen and stared. "That's the same thing that's on my screen!"

LATER

We found everyone at Lan's house, and they had those little rings, too!

"So…we have six rings of power," I remarked, "and we don't even know what they are?"

Maylu and everyone else said they felt like the rings had something to do with Megaman. Lan looked at me. "Do you think so? I mean, I can't think of any other reason you've got your Megaman style on, when you don't do the same hairstyle twice in a week."

I touched the bun on the back of my head. "Yeah. It was all I could think about."

Then our PETs started making the craziest noise. Glyde's idea was that the rings all operated on the same frequency, and make that sound when they're near each other.

"And you know what that means," Lan finished, "it means that all the rings are connected somehow!"

Taking a cue from me, Lan pulled the back off his PET and suggested we all link up our PETs. I ignored all the rest of the conversation, and just pulled the cord free. "Let's do it!"

We were all linked up…waiting…then finally, all the rings ran onto Lan's PET and formed into Megaman's symbol, and we started hearing his voice calling Lan's name! "All right!" I yelped, pumping my fist in the air. "That's – something, anyway."

"This is worse than before," Lan suddenly said. "Now I know he's out there, but I don't have a clue how to get him back!"

"We figured out the first part," Maylu reassured him, "so I'm sure we'll figure out this part, too."

Everyone started talking around in circles, and Lan started freaking out again.

"Chill - it's like a puzzle game!" I commented. "I love puzzle games!"

"You haven't changed in years, Will," a voice from the doorway said. "Well, except for the hair." My head snapped up, and I grinned.

It was Dr. Hikari! We'd met some time ago, back when Lan was just a little kid and probably didn't remember me. I'd been quite the cheeky squirt then. Now, Dr. Hikari was back and ready to help Lan find Megaman!

He told us what we needed – Megaman's frame. Then he told us where it was – CyLab. The problem was, Pharaohman had taken over and changed the security.

"Well, whatever," I cracked my knuckles. "I could use a challenge."

He laughed. "You really would try, wouldn't you? You haven't changed a bit." Then he got serious. "We need three things to stop Pharaohman. First, a high-tech computer with the best hacking capabilities, and a way to move it around. Both have to be custom-built."

_Way to go, Yai._

"Next, we need some strong Net Navis to break the firewall and release the frame."

We all volunteered for that.

"You guys are quite a team."

The third thing was the biggest joke of all – spaghetti and meat sauce, made by Lan's mom! Though I could see why: why go on a destroy-and-rescue mission on an empty stomach?

Lan wasn't hungry. "I'll have his!" I called, waving my plate.

After we ate, and once we started driving, Dr. Hikari looked at me. "You sure you're up to the challenge of breaking into the security Pharaohman set up?"

I stood up, held my arms out and posed on a roller-blade. "Can Roll dance?"

I earned some laughs, anyway.

"Nice attitude, keep it up! Though, I'll say, I think everyone would feel better if I was the one doing all the hacking."

Avatar

"Will's always like that!" I laughed. Then we found a little dog! Roll adored the little thing, though it kept avoiding Gutsman.

"I'm glad you like him," Dr. Hikari said. "His name's Rush." We ignored him after he started talking to Maylu, though I was listening when he said that Rush could lead us to Megaman's frame.

"It's very nice to meet you, Rush," Roll baby-talked to him.

"Will you let me pet you?" I asked him, holding my hand out.

He turned around, looked at me, and just studied my hand. Then he jumped into my arms and started licking my face.

"Apparently," I laughed, "he has a soft spot for girls."

Will

I was ready with my PET with everyone else. Finally, we were able to send our Navis off on their dangerous quest.

Avatar

Dr. Hikari was almost as good as Will at opening portals for us. Finally, we made it to CyLab's mainframe.

And…fell into a desert. I managed to spin out of the way, but everyone else landed on top of each other.

Once we started walking, Rush caught up with us. He was going to lead us to Megaman.

"Now dog is leader?" Gutsman asked the sky.

I ignored him. For hours.

Then we ended up dealing with viruses! I couldn't use my bola on them, because they were hiding in the sand!

Besides, they were fish. Gutsman and Glyde took them out.

"Hey, Will," I looked up. "We haven't used the Leonopteryx battle chip yet…"

"I was thinking the same thing! Leonopteryx Battle Chip in, download!"

"What's a Leonopteryx?" Iceman asked me.

Then it appeared next to me, looking just like Will described it: big, with large wings, clawed feet, and a long neck and tail. Sharp teeth filled its mouth, but I just vaulted up onto its back and queue-linked with it, putting it under my control. "This is a Leonopteryx. I'll scout out ahead." Then it took flight. "Woo-hoo!"

A little later, I was so glad I'd gotten that battle chip – a sandstorm blew up, and our NetOps couldn't send us any more battle chips! I was just wishing I'd asked for my X-Bow, because I couldn't do any damage up here, and going in would cause problems.

_My friends…_ I dove into the sandstorm and had it land amongst them, covering them with its wings – and it was big enough to even do that with Gutsman! I vaulted off its neck, staying queue-linked, and hid under as well. "Leonopteryx is my one ultimate battle chip; it can take a lot. Let's just stay here until the storm blows over."

Rush ended up saving us this time.

"Better get going, though," Dr. Hikari reminded us, "it's still a long way."

When we got to some ruins, I undid my queue-link with the Leonopteryx. "Stay here unless I call."

It folded its wings and lay down, and we all went in.

"Will it really stay there?" Glyde asked me.

"My animal-like battle chips are actually a tiny bit closer related to Rush. They won't go away unless destroyed or specifically deactivated by me, and I think we might end up needing it again."

Gutsman was going to give me a headache with his "Are we there yet"s. Along with everyone else.

Finally, we got to a door. Glyde analyzed it for its pass key. "That's strange: a one-digit pass code."

"Easier for us, I suppose," I replied with a shrug.

On the other side of the door, we found a room with Megaman's mainframe! Lan jacked in the data, and we just watched as…

He reformed!

"Avatar," Will suddenly asked, sounding wistful, "once we know he's okay, could you give him a kiss for me?"

"You're hopeless. But, sure."

He looked like he was asleep. He just needed time to become fully functional.

But did we have that time?

I guessed not, around the time the room started shaking and Pharaohman showed up.

We ended up having to run, leaving Megaman behind. Roll was about ready to start crying.

"Avatar," Glyde asked, "can your Leonopteryx carry all of us?"

"Not on its back, but if Gutsman was carried in its claws, then probably."

As it turned out, Gutsman wasn't going to be a problem – he sacrificed himself to save Roll.

"Roll," I choked back my own emotion, "it's hard losing friends, but you can't break down until after we're safe! Do you want his sacrifice to be in vain?"

So we ran.

We stopped next to the Leonopteryx, but didn't mount right away, because it looked like, at least for the moment, we were safe.

Spoke too soon: Pharaohman came out to make us bow to him, but then an army of Stoneman and Blasterman came out of nowhere to fight him!

I pushed my friends onto the Leonopteryx, mounting and queue-linking with it. "Hurry," I whispered, "while he's distracted!"

I didn't really think it would work for long, but it was worth a try.

We were surrounded by the army, up on the Leonopteryx.

"Why aren't we flying?" Iceman asked.

"Right, like those Blasterman copies don't have homing missiles. We wouldn't last long against that many. I have to time this right."

I crouched low and waited. Then, all at once, we all got Areasteel battle chips and zipped out of there, Leonopteryx and all!

When we reappeared outside the blast, my ride spread its wings and started flying, since we were in the air, and we all waited to see what had happened to Pharaohman.

He survived that! And destroyed all but the originals into the bargain, and the only reason they weren't destroyed was because they moved!

"Okay, now we run! Hang on!"

Leonopteryx turned on its wingtip and we started flying extremely fast out of there.

"There's something about this guy that gives me the chills!" Iceman remarked while we flew.

Suddenly, something appeared in front of us, and I dodged too late – Glyde fell off and was turned to stone!

"Banshee, battle chips in, double download! Roll, Iceman, take these, you shouldn't all be riding on the same ride anymore!"

Two banshees, one blue and one pink, appeared next to me, and they vaulted off and onto the two. "So how do we control them?"

"Their queues! Set them against the backs of your necks, and hurry!"

They followed my instructions, and we took off.

That didn't last long. Both banshees hit the sand, turned to stone along with their riders. I took off, flying in circles, unsure what to do.

"Be careful, Avatar," Dr. Hikari called to me, right about the time I'd made up my mind, "you're the only fighting Navi left."

"Right, and I'm going to find Megaman!" I swerved around and took off towards the pyramid again.

"Avatar, are you _insane?_" Will yelled.

"Cool, you got a chance to say that to me for a change."

That was my only answer. I had to help Megaman!

Dr. Hikari warned me that there were three other Navis on the net heading more or less my way.

I decided to ignore them. _It's either find Megaman, or destroy Pharaohman. Nothing else matters._

He did also warn me that the new Navis were going to try to force a shutdown.

"Fine."

Will

"She really isn't listening to me right now, is she?" Dr. Hikari asked me.

"Nope. When her pride's been hurt, she'll do just about anything."

_Just please be careful – you're the only family that cares about me!_

Avatar

For a short time, everything went black. Then the desert reappeared. I hadn't really thought that would work.

"Avatar," Will called to me, "We have ten minutes to stop a satellite from hitting Dentec City! Can you do -"

I answered, cutting her off. "Where there's a will, there's a way!"

Then Protoman showed up! I flew over. "Hey!"

"Avatar. How'd you survive?"

"Luck. What's the plan?"

"You wait here. I'm going to get Megaman and bring him back up." Then he started spinning really fast and actually burrowed down into the sand!

I told my leonopteryx to hunch down, and we just sat and waited. "Fortunately, Pharaohman seems to have forgotten I'm here."

It took a little while, but finally, Protoman came back up with Megaman! He set him down next to me. "There, kid. This makes us even." Then he looked up at me. "I believe you and I have a score to settle with Pharaohman. Can you get me there?"

"Definitely. Hop on. My leonopteryx won't last long against Pharaohman, but it'll save our energy for the actual battle."

"Thanks." He mounted up, and flew towards the pyramid.

Protoman

Avatar's Leonopteryx really could turn on the speed. It didn't take us that long to reach Pharaohman.

Of course, that was the easy part. Using the Leonopteryx, we took out viruses and then landed in front of Pharaohman himself. "Let's battle!"

Avatar was right – it didn't take long to lose the Leonopteryx, and we were fighting on our own.

Avatar

Just as we were going to get deleted, Megaman came in with a fired shot! Then he leaped through the hole and made some crack about being back. Gotta love that kid!

Then the two guys pulled a Double Program Advance and won!

"Nice entrance back there," Protoman said to Megaman.

The net returned to normal, and Lan excitedly welcomed Megaman back. Megaman filled Lan in on who kept him from falling into the lava.

"You don't owe me anything, kid," Protoman told Megaman, "I was only doing what I was told to do."

Then we found out that we didn't beat Pharaohman – instead, he'd survived, and Stoneman and Blasterman captured him! Megaman followed them into a vortex!

"What's the kid doing?" I asked the sky.

"Who knows?" Protoman answered. "By the way, thanks for the help."

I touched his shoulder carefully. After all, he wasn't used to having friends. "That's what friends do."

I found my friends – somehow, after the whole situation of whatever happened, they'd been restored! And then we found Megaman. Roll dove right into his arms.

Rush ended up getting us all laughing by running around and around Gutsman and nearly making him lose his balance on those crutches.

"Oh, before I forget," I walked over to Megaman. "Will wanted me to give this to you once you were recovered." I felt like a total idiot as I gave him a kiss on the cheek in front of everybody.

"She doesn't quit, does she?" He was smiling, though.

"Nope!"


	12. Vacation!, part 1

_**Vacation! Part 1**_

* * *

**Will**

We watched as Lan flew off on his second-place prize. Suddenly…

"Will?"

I turned around. "What's up, Doc?"

"Ha. I asked the initiators of the N1 Grand Prix to give you this." And he gave me –

"Tickets for the same trip that Lan's taking?"

"You're going to find a way to stow along anyway, so you might as well travel legit with him. At least, once you catch up with him. I believe Yai could help you with that."

"Cool!"

He thinks he knows me. Of course, he's right: the most interesting stuff happens around Megaman, and I won't want to be left out of it.

"They really shouldn't encourage you," Avatar remarked.

"Whatever."

* * *

We got there before Lan did, and met up with him wearing our swimsuits. I'd gone without hair dye this time, since I was planning on swimming.

He seemed surprised to see us.

While the Navis ran back and forth across the PETs, we all played with a beach ball. Then, of all things, Maysa showed up!

Maylu and Yai went back to the summer house, while I stayed with the boys. Yai had mentioned something about a ghost ship.

All I did was cock my head. "No such thing." That was right before all of them started laughing.

* * *

Then Lan, Dex, Tory and I went for a ride behind Maysa's shark-boat thing on a raft…right before it got foggy.

Then a ship showed up, bumped into Maysa's shark, and left us all in the water! If that wasn't enough, then Tory and Maysa got caught in a net and dragged onto the ship!

We climbed onto the raft again and waited. "Knowing Yai," I remarked, "she'll probably find us and send out a rescue team pretty soon.

Called it. After Lan and Dex started paddling to try to find Tory and Maysa, Maylu and Yai showed up in a submarine.

We got our PETs back. Megaman seemed kind of nervous. _Scared of ghosts, are you?_

* * *

We managed to find the ghost ship, got it to surface, and got on board.

Dark, drippy, and cold. I hate that kind of environment, especially without a jacket.

"Scared or cold, Will?" Avatar asked me.

"Cold, definitely. I don't scare easy."

Dex, on the other hand…got scared by a starfish falling from the ceiling. I never really liked Dex.

We split up. I stayed with Lan and Dex – because of Megaman, purely – and Yai and Maylu went a different direction.

Then Dex tore off past us, screaming. Good grief; another starfish?

Then we heard Yai scream! She doesn't strike me as being a scare-easy girl any more than I am!

I wondered how long it would be before we heard Maylu scream.

* * *

Bingo.

Lan and I went running to find our friends. Though I did wonder where we were going, per se.

Well, we found some purple blob thing, and it had Maylu in a net! Then it just wandered off and disappeared with her after attempting to catch both of us in a net.

"Well, I guess we keep looking."

* * *

By now, I was totally lost. I had no idea where we were.

Then, a door we passed by made a sound as if something had banged on it. Glancing over Lan's shoulder at his PET, I could barely see Megaman; he was hiding behind the edge of his screen's frame. Then I looked at Lan. "We're going to open it, aren't we?"

"Yup."

Didn't have to; the door just got knocked off. Lan and Megaman were both scared. I didn't know about Avatar, but I wasn't; I just looked to see what was inside.

It was Tory! Chilled, but alive! He told us that what we'd seen wasn't a ghost, and that if we followed him, we'd figure out what was going on.

_Yeah, sure, just put the fish down._

* * *

We got to the control room, and saw the purple thing again. Tory told us to plug into the ship's computer while he held off the thing. We both slid under it – "Safe!" I laughed – and jacked in our Navis.

**Avatar**

Viruses were all over the place in the computer!

"Well, looks like our part is quite well spelled out, huh Megaman?"

"Yeah!"

While he swung around with a sword, I launched my bola, and fish viruses were falling all around us!

Then one of them morphed enormous and knocked both of us backwards!

Megaman struggled back to his feet, as did I, and then Lan activated a Style Change on Megaman!

"Well, I've never seen you like this before," I remarked.

"Isn't it great?"

I opted to step back and let him take down the thing by himself. He was certainly powerful enough for it.

One shot, and he took down both that thing's projectile and the virus itself! Then he went back to normal.

"Good thing I'm on your side!" I laughed.

* * *

**Will**

We found everyone else all in the same net, except Maysa. I idly wondered where Fish-Brain went.

Once we got onto the deck, we found him with the purple thing. He explained what was going on, and then we all hurried off the ship so that the AI could take it back into the ocean.

Once we got back, we all had a big water fight. I was winning, by swimming underwater and ducking people at random!

* * *

NEXT DAY

…At least, I think it was the next day. I lost track of time.

We were listening to some music by a virtual girl named Aki. Lan, Dex and Tory were all impressed; thought she was cute. And let's not forget the star-struck Navis. I think Gutsman and Iceman had it worst, even though they admitted they couldn't touch her for being a different program.

Even Maysa liked Aki, though his reasons made perfect sense for him: she was wearing a fish button.

"Hey," I asked nobody in particular, "where are the girls?"

I had to ask. They just now showed up, wearing dresses like Aki's!

…A contest for who looked most like her. Could I have a headache now, please? Or should it wait until after Miss Mari shows up?

LATER

Miss Mari opted to enter the contest, as well.

I looked at Lan and sighed. "I wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like that."

Then suddenly a cleaning cart came out, sucked up all three costume-wearers and drove off! "Here we go again!" I sighed as we ran after them.

Then Megaman instructed Lan to run to the left to cut it off.

"Lan, get on my back!"

"Hm?"

"I'm wearing my wheels! I gave a lift to Chaud once already, so you'll be no trouble!"

"Right!" He vaulted on, and I took the path suggested. "I'm going to want to hear about that, though."

"Sure. Hold on!" I picked up the speed.

We got to a bridge, and I vaulted off and landed on the thing. He was the one to figure out how to stop it.

But when we opened it, our friends weren't in it! There were three other Aki-costume-wearing girls, and they told us that contestants were being targeted.

* * *

We found the managers, and got some more ideas on what was probably going on.

_Oh yeah; Iceman really has it bad._

Then Lan came up with the most insane plan: all of us, dress up in the costumes to get caught!

"No way no way no way no way!" I protested, "I wouldn't be caught dead in that!"

"Come on," Lan begged, "for Maylu? Miss Mari? Yai?"

"No, no, and no! I'm not – "

"Megaman wants to talk to you." Lan thrust his PET into my hands and wandered off to get changed. I looked at the screen.

"Um…Will, you really don't want Lan and Dex to be in charge of this rescue mission, do you? _Lan_ and _Dex_?"

"Dex doesn't have much brains to speak of," I answered slowly, "and Lan's heart's in the right place, but...Mmm!" I started thumping my heel on the ground. If Avatar had told any of them the signs, that was the signal that I was on the verge of giving in.

Then he gave me the cutest pleading look. "Besides, I'd love to see you in that costume!"

"Okay, okay!" I slapped Lan's PET screen-down on the table and rolled into the tent, closing it as quickly as I could.

I even did a quick dye job on my hair to get it the same shade as Aki's hair. _If I'm going to look like Aki, I might as well do it right._

All the boys were impressed.

"Happy now, Megaman?"

Lan held up his PET, and Megaman laughed. "Come on, Will: smile! You're having fun!"

I growled through my teeth while I forced a smile, "No I'm not!"

* * *

We started walking. I was trying my hardest to ignore the boys in their dresses.

Iceman was positive that the plan wouldn't work, and the other Navis were just as embarrassed over the boys as I was. Though, I'll give them credit: if Tory was a girl, he'd probably have won the contest, he looked that okay in the costume. Lan was next okay. Dex was worst.

And yet, with all that, the plan still worked – we were captured!

We were taken underground. Then the thing stopped, and we were dumped out and down a slide.

I took just a moment to assess my situation, and I twisted around and caught hold of the edge of the slide. Then I dropped down to join the boys.

When we found the girls…were our own totally oblivious to their locations? The manager told us that he'd lost contact with Aki. Though we did end up with a situation – we had to get everyone out of here before the cooling system really turned on.

Fortunately, those two Net Savers came to help us…I'd forgotten the green-haired one's name, but the other was Miyu…and they were wearing the same dresses we all were. Part of their cover, maybe?

We found out from the Net Savers that it wasn't a rival company. I rolled my eyes. "Wouldn't it be ironic if Aki was behind this?"

* * *

**Avatar**

There are days when I really hate Will. Megaman, Iceman, Gutsman and I ran into Aki's server and found her dressed up like some villain.

She was also speaking something resembling nonsense to me. Something about how she was the only real Aki, and any other Aki was gone.

We ended up fighting viruses in there. Finally, Megaman Style Changed and defeated the biggest virus.

Then we talked Aki into continuing her whole gig.

**Will**

So…Megaman's a big softie, huh? And a music fan? I never knew that!

* * *

That evening, all Aki fans were singing her song on stage.

…Oh yeah: the boys were wearing their dresses again, and had convinced me to wear mine again. Megaman played their spokesperson to get me to do that.

But hey, I wanted to be in the picture as well, so I leaped onto the stage and positioned myself between the Net Savers, above my friends, singing the last line: "I love you!"

* * *

**A/N: This chapter is based on the two Japanese episodes that come right after the N1 Grand Prix, just because I never understood why the English version left out the episode where Aki showed up – the way they did it, Aki just magically appears several episodes later!**

**Also, a little insight on Will – there are only two ways to get her to do something she's not interested in doing: reverse psychology, or she has to like the person. If the point is to keep her from doing something she wants to do, she has to like the person, and they need to be able to give her a really, REALLY good reason she can't.**


	13. Vacation!, part 2

Vacation! part 2

* * *

_**Will**_

I got a pretty good laugh on the plane when Megaman woke Lan up. (I actually don't dye my hair on long trips; why risk having the dye rub off on the seats?)

Once off the plane in Netopia, Lan was hyped to do a lot of Net-battling. Then we both noticed Chaud. He'd apparently come here to do business, but it didn't work out. When a spokesperson came over asking for Chaud to do business with the guy in question, I loved his answer: "I'd sooner do business with a rattlesnake. I wouldn't trust him farther than I can throw him." Then he went on, warning both of us about the guy.

Of course, then the spokesperson said that Netopia's mayor wanted to meet Lan. I went with Lan…just to see what was up…

And Lan got pushed on stage.

I decided I didn't like the mayor as soon as I laid eyes on him. Sitting down nearby, I grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and wrote out a note, folding it into quarters and drawing Megaman's symbol on it. Then I watched and waited.

Finally, my opportune moment arrived: Lan stashed his PET in his backpack and set it down on the stage. I slipped up and did a switch: his PET for my note.

"Um…Will? What are you doing?" Megaman asked once I got a little ways away from the stage.

"Just thought you'd like to chat a little while Lan was busy with his fans." I pulled the PET cord free and tied it around my neck in a quick knot, so that I didn't have to carry it around all day.

_**Lan**_

My backpack was gone, and Megaman with it!

Some security guy came over with my backpack, but Megaman wasn't in there! I did find a note, though.

"_Lan, I took Megaman out to have a chat with him away from the crowds. If you're reading this note, though, then that means I've been gone too long and you'll have to come find us. ~Will._"

"Argh, I _hate_ it when Will does that! Still…it's good to know that Megaman's in good hands. But where's Will?"

The mayor told me about teenagers running wild, and how their leader, Raoul, was the worst!

"My guess is, they stole your backpack in hopes of stealing your PET; but when they found the note instead, they went to kidnap your friend and your PET all at once!"

"Oh no! I've got to find them!" I took off, leaving that mayor on the stage.

* * *

**_Will_**

"Okay," I laughingly asked Avatar, "what's the most outrageous thing I could possibly want to do?" I'd been doing this for a while: asking questions of Avatar about me, and she comes up with the craziest thing she can think of. Megaman was getting a good laugh out of it, too.

"Hmm…make out with a Net Navi!"

I had to stop rolling for a second, for laughing so hard at that one!

"You're not serious, Avatar!" Megaman laughed right along with me.

"It was the most outrageous thing _I _could think of!" Ironically, she was at least partially right: if Megaman was in the real world, I'd _love_ the opportunity to give him a kiss!

"What's so funny?" a strange voice asked.

I looked up. A blond kid was standing in front of me, with a couple of other boys with him. They seemed to be trying to look menacing.

"You three, actually; do you think I'm going to be scared of a few kids shorter than me?"

"Not really. That's an interesting necklace, though; can we see it?"

Intentions clear there. I put my hand over Lan's PET. "Sorry, but it's not technically mine. If you want a better look, fine, but it stays around my neck!"

They stopped and looked at each other. Then their eyes went down to my feet. All at once, the blond kid grinned. "Okay."

Suddenly, his pals grabbed hold of each of my wrists and started dragging me along! With my wheels, offering any resistance would be too risky!

"Will, aren't you going to stop?" Megaman asked me.

"And fall on my face? No."

* * *

This went on for a little while, and I kept catching glimpses of Lan chasing us. "Hey, Lan! This way!" I yelled, probably sounding like I was having the time of my life. The kids didn't even bother trying to shut me up as I kept yelling; it was almost like they wanted Lan to follow us, for all that they were throwing hot mustard and smokescreens.

Finally, we had to stop at a chain-link fence.

"All right, game's up: give me back my friend!" Lan snapped.

"Sorry, but as long as she's got Megaman around her neck, she stays with us."

I batted my eyes at the kid. "You're that big a fan? I'm flattered!"

Not that my flirting worked any in being released.

Then up came this guy, asking about Lan. Lan called him Raoul, and demanded that his pals let me and Megaman go.

Apparently, this was all a small misunderstanding; Team Thunder, this group, had thought Lan was a spy working for the mayor, who was trying to wipe them out and caring only for himself.

When the sun set, Raoul told his friends to let me go.

"Yeah…sorry about that." And the blond kid had his friends let go of me.

I rolled over to Lan as he basically said that everyone makes mistakes, and pushed a button on the PET, reactivating the screen.

"Lan! So where's your precious fan club?" Megaman sounded snide.

Lan started teasing Megaman a little about being jealous, holding onto the PET while I fussed with the cord. It had gotten a bit tighter than I'd tied it during the runaround. I was trying to ignore Lan, and finally got the knot untied. "There!"

"_Ow!_" The cord had whiplashed back into the PET, smacking Lan's hand.

"Whoops! My bad!"

"Oh…sorry; it's good to see you're okay, too, Will." At least he sounded sheepish over forgetting about me.

"No prob." We started to leave…but then Raoul said that we weren't finished!

"Oooh, Net-battle alert!" I said excitedly as I turned around.

I was right: being Lan Hikari, runner-up in the N1 Grand Prix, Raoul wanted to battle! His Navi was named Thunderman!

I rolled backwards to watch the match. It seemed like I was the only person cheering for Megaman, but hey, who was worried?

…Okay…maybe I was a little worried. Megaman was getting hammered by all the electric attacks!

Then suddenly the ground started shaking and water pipes started breaking! And somehow it didn't feel like the Net-battlers were responsible for this!

Apparently, my guess about the Mayor was right. We both decided to go for helping Raoul show the snake who _really_ ran this town!

_**Megaman**_

Thunderman was really impressed with Avatar. Frankly, so was I: I'd known her for months, and I was _still_ having trouble getting used to her being almost twice as tall as I am!

We were having a pretty easy time taking out the viruses, though Avatar had warned us not to get cocky.

_**Will**_

Called it: the mayor took over some construction machines and were using them for demolition! We had to stop them!

Some of the other kids stopped one of the trucks, and we got into the cockpit, jacking in our Navis again.

_**Avatar**_

We got there, Lan declared the six of us a team, and the first thing Megaman and I did was step backwards out of Thunderman's way.

"Wrath of Thunder, huh?" I asked, kneeling down next to Megaman to make myself less of a lightning-attractor.

"Yeah."

But then the electric-viruses morphed into a gigantic one and blasted Thunderman and Megaman! Only the fact that I was kneeling kept me from getting hit, too!

"Direhorse Bow, battle chip in, download!" Will snapped.

"Activate Style Change, Wood Shield! It defeats electrical attacks!" Lan added.

I glanced at Megaman. "You look different in green!"

Together, we took down that giant virus.

_**Will**_

Finally, the truck stopped, and Raoul thanked us for helping out.

Then the mayor showed up…and the police…and the police handcuffed the mayor! Apparently, "someone" had emailed the police with all the evidence they'd need to arrest the guy!

_Way to go, Chaud._

Morning came, and we all left for our next location. Still, we'd left behind a good friend in Raoul. Maybe someday I'll dye my hair to look like I've got his hair ties.

* * *

One train trip later, we were in our next location. What was the place called? Brand City?

I had set up my orbit around Lan while we walked down the street. I think Lan was more interested in finding a hot dog than anything else. Suddenly, Megaman pointed out a bag in a store – a green one that apparently Lan's mom had been going on about for a while.

"Well…let's go see!" I rolled in.

We found it…and the price tag was two thousand dollars!

"How can girls buy stuff like this?" Lan protested. I ignored that vaguely sexist comment.

Megaman was just as shocked. "Is that bag made out of solid gold or something? I don't think we can buy this today."

Then a creepy man wearing shades told Lan that there was another way to get that bag. I…wasn't so sure…I decided to sit this one out, though I did follow Lan to the museum.

* * *

Instead of going in altogether, I sat outside and fiddled with my PET.

"You think he'll be okay in there?" Avatar asked.

"Sure. Call me crazy, but I think we're going to hear from Chaud over this one, too. I mean, 'greatest Net-battlers'? I think someone's trying to settle for the second-best in the Grand Prix here, too."

"Hm…"

* * *

About an hour later, Lan came out, and he looked disappointed. "This game was a trap."

"Hence the reason I stayed outside. So what happened? Did Protoman come to bail you out?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

I tapped my forehead with a smirk. "I'm psychic."

"Yeah, right."

Then later, Lan got an email from his mom. Doctor Hikari had gotten her that bag!

"Then all that was for _nothing_?" Lan sounded like he was whining a little.

Megaman shrank the email back down again and answered, "Think of it this way, Lan: if she's happy, we're happy!"

I just smiled back at him.

* * *

**A/N: About that exchange up there before Will was kidnapped? The one about Will making out with a Net Navi? Well...that _could_ happen... *SPOILER ALERT! ^_^***


	14. Vacation!, part 3

_**Vacation!, part 3**_

* * *

**Will**

Lan almost slept way past the bus. I woke him up, and was all but dragging him towards the bus stop.

We did finally make it on. I settled back and sighed.

"Thanks for the support," Lan said to Megaman, "but _you_ didn't have to run!"

"Yeah, I know, just habit. Kind of like you sleeping late, even in a completely different country!"

"Hey, it's not _my_ fault! I think there's something wrong with my alarm clock!"

When he said "I think," I started counting down on my fingers. Knowing Lan's stuff, his alarm clock would probably go off about…now.

"Lan, wake up!"

_Why does his alarm clock sound like his mom?_

At least the other people on the bus got a good laugh out of that.

Then Lan glanced at me. "How'd you do that?"

"I know you and your stuff. You're so predictable!"

"Yeah? Well…so are you, in a way."

"Me, predictable?" I tried to sound offended.

"Yup!" He winked at me and started counting off on his fingers. "One, you always get up early enough in the morning to dye your hair before breakfast; two, you roller-blade everywhere; and three, whatever you decide to do in a day, it's going to be something crazy!"

I rolled my eyes. "And if I don't do something crazy in a day, it's because I haven't figured out what I could do."

"No," Megaman retorted, "that just means we haven't _seen _you do something crazy! If things get too boring for you, you'll roll off and _make _something happen!"

* * *

A little later, Lan was looking at a guidebook, that specifically said something about an elasmosaurus in the lake we were going to visit.

I glanced at his PET. _Megaman's cute sitting with a book._

Then a storm kicked up, driving the bus out of control, up off the road and driving cross-country!

We jacked our Navis into the bus' computer, and they started whipping viruses.

The bus finally stopped…and it was raining. "Well, _this_ is a great day for my dye job."

"I'm sensing sarcasm," Avatar remarked.

I ran my hands through my green hair. "Well, what am I supposed to say?"

"How about…I'm glad I packed my umbrella?"

Lan and I went to check out an old mansion, him under a black umbrella, and me under a rainbow-colored one.

Going in, Megaman told Lan, "If you jack me in, I'll make sure we don't set off the security alarm."

With that task accomplished, we looked around. Some creepy old lady directed Lan to a phone. While he tried to make a call, I studied our "hostess." She reminded me a little too strongly of Count Zap for me to be comfortable.

Then my sharp hearing picked up a whispered comment from an old lady about how a kid beat our "old lady."

_Hm…_

No dial tone. We decided to try and find our host or another phone. Though I did mention, "Lan, if _this_ phone didn't have a dial tone, there's very little chance that any other phone will work."

Going into the next room ended up trapping us! Then we saw a hologram of a world-wide-web-cage, and Megaman was stuck inside!

Then our little old lady showed up and revealed herself to really be Count Zap!

_Called it._ "You looked better as an old lady."

I love giving his pride punches. "Don't think I've forgotten _you_, you punk!"

I touched my chest, batting my eyes wide in mock-hurt. "Punk? Me? I'm offended!"

At the least, he wanted a rematch with Lan. He did point at me, though. "Don't go anywhere; I'll get back to you!"

_Riiight…_

* * *

**Megaman**

Elecman jacked in, and I got ready. No…not ready to battle…ready for whatever Will said next.

"I _still_ think Elecman's too cute to be evil!"

That one gets him every time. _Now_ I'll get ready to battle. Lan jacked in, and the battle started.

"You're mine!"

"In your dreams!"

**Will**

The battle got weird pretty quickly. Megaman got hit against the wall of the cage, and Lan got shocked! And shocked again and again, for every time Megaman got hit!

I did like Lan using his Skullman strategy; Elecman was totally flustered!

_He's even cuter flustered._

At least the treatment was equal, and Count Zap got zapped, too. And hey, even if Megaman loses, Count Zap will be in too terrible shape to battle _me_!

Then suddenly, _both_ got zapped, and Lan was unconscious! I ran over and grabbed the PET, yelling, "I'll cover for him, Megaman! Get up!"

Then Lan's alarm clock started going off. I hadn't moved from my position, so Lan could still download battle chips even though I was holding it.

Which he did almost as soon as he woke up! Elecman was owned, and Count Zap was fried!

Lan pulled his alarm clock out of his bag and turned it off. "Thanks for the wake-up message, Mom."

* * *

When we got out to the bus (the storm had stopped), it was working again! So, we did finally get to the lake.

While Lan and Megaman were talking, I was staring out at the lake. And around the time that Lan said that the elasmosaurus thing was a rumor, I noticed something swimming in the lake. Something big…with a long neck…

_Should I tell Lan? …Nah. His loss._

* * *

The last stop for us was apparently Curryland, because Lan was totally enthused. The most enthusiasm I showed was coloring my hair brown, red, yellow and orange all at once – the colors I notice in curry.

I didn't participate in Lan's curry fest…not really…because curry just isn't really my thing. Give me a chocolate buffet any day.

Of course, things got more interesting when all of World Three showed up to fight us! They were trying to fight together as a team, and so we tried as well. We did better than they did…at first. Then they actually succeeded in trapping both of our Navis in some large pot!

It was a good thing that everyone else showed up right then to bust us out. Then Lan activated some new Style Change on Megaman, that let him use the abilities of any Navi that he connected into his PET like a battle chip – in this case, Iceman! We made Yahoot's machine blow up!

* * *

Then finally, we got home. I got in my door, evaded my dad, and ran into my room. Practically as soon as I got into my room, Megaman dropped by to say hi!

"Hey, Will! Guess what happened almost as soon as we got home!"

He sounded amused. "I assume you're going to tell me?" I asked, winking at him.

"Lan's mom made _curry_ for him!"

"Oh no!" I laughed.


	15. Anyway

_**Anyway...**_

* * *

**Will**

Oh yeah – Net City was a new feature that Avatar could go to. It was fine…until suddenly some virus cloud was causing it to disappear.

Yai helped us get into Higsby's shop with a giant drill.

Jacking everyone in, we got ready!

**Avatar**

Viruses galore! We barely managed to save NumberMan. Then we were trying to take care of all of them while MegaMan and Glyde were playing tag in the air.

Still, it was getting really hard to deal with all of them, and then Glyde had to be saved by MegaMan. _How is he strong enough to carry Glyde? It still doesn't make much sense._

We ended up under Net City in the sewers, and out of communication. Glyde's eyes lit up, and we started trying to find a way out. Instead, we found TorchMan. He effectively told us what was going on, and we went to find the factory.

Well…we found it. _And_ a Navi named ShadowMan. He was evidently told to delete MegaMan. SharkMan saved MegaMan, and gave him a license to use battle chips. The battle started going well after that.

The factory started falling apart, ShadowMan left, and MegaMan used ElecTeam Style to get us all out of here. Then he combined with Glyde to take down all the viruses!

Then we heard something yelling about being angry. Weird.

Some creepy team named Grave was trying extremely hard to wipe out the Internet, and Megaman, or at the very least, cause confusion.

* * *

**Will**

What was really entertaining was when some kid named Whip came by. I could tell, even though nobody else could, that Whip was actually a girl. I told "him" in a whisper, "Don't worry, I won't betray you to anyone."

Lan showed that kid all over town, and we helped her avoid some security people.

Then, as it turned out, I didn't have to worry about betraying her secret: after a fountain mishap (which ruined my dye job), it came out to Lan anyway.

* * *

After any number of crazy stuff, including a race between Navis that Yai sponsored for the new cars AyanoTech made, _and_ a gigantic beast that was determined to absorb the net, I went to visit Lan – he'd finished a new invention, and then he got a call from Commander Beef saying that Lan's dad had disappeared!

Then on a plane, Chaud called Lan's PET to tell us a little about what Lan's dad was up to.

"Bringing the cyber world to the real world?" I repeated, twirling a pink strand of hair. "Cool!"

Though…why was it in a shopping mall? Who cares? It looked like it was going nuts sprouting trees!

Then we ended up crashing. Inside the mall, we found a jungle, and Aki! Aki told us about the viruses that were now loose in the real world. Then connection broke off, and we started down to the underground parking lot.

Viruses cornered us at the elevators! Finally, we got into the elevator and started away. Then we had to run from viruses again once we got to the bottom floor! We only barely managed to get away from two different groups of viruses. Then we managed to jack in our navis, but lost contact!

Then there was another game of virus-tag! Finally, we got the secret to beating the viruses on our own: water!

After stocking up on water pistols, we were ready to take them on. "Let the battle begin," Lan stated.

"What is this, a video game?" I asked nobody.

* * *

Well, they went down like a video game. Finally, we rescued Miss Mari from a big dragon-virus and found the Dimension Core in a giant tree…with the biggest virus ever guarding it! We were all out of water and definitely in serious trouble when suddenly…

Megaman appeared in front of us, followed closely by Roll, Gutsman, Glyde, Iceman and Avatar!

…A _very tall_ Avatar – she was almost twice as tall as I was!

"Hey, Will," Dex remarked, "Avatar's…kinda tall."

"I didn't program that." I shook my head, kind of in shock.

"Yes you did," Avatar laughed, twitching her braid. "You just didn't think over what it meant when you told the specs 'the equivalent of ten feet tall in the real world.'"

I'm not even going to _try_ to describe the battle that ensued! All that's important is that Megaman won!

Everything returned to normal, and the Navis returned to their PETs. Then we found Lan's dad, asleep. When he woke up, he saw that the project was a success, and then ran off almost immediately to check on the Dimension Core on the other side of the island.

…_The other side?_

Sure enough, Commander Beef – when did Maysa find time to change? – got a call from his team talking about how it had gone out of control.

"Here we go again!" I groaned.

* * *

**A/N: I'd stalled out on this. Sorry. Next chapter's going to be based on an Axess episode.**


	16. CrossFusion!

**_Cross-Fusion!_**

* * *

**Will**

Some time had passed since the last incidents. New technology had come up, and PETs were updated. Megaman was still in fine form in the Battle Arena.

I went with Lan and Maylu to drop off a bag. We were going to watch a new program! Something about fusing Net Navis with Net-Ops! A Synchro Chip could Cross-Fuse a Net Navi with their Net-Op!

We watched the cross-fusion from the observation deck. It seemed to be working for a little while, but then it needed to be shut down!

Lan wanted to cross-fuse, but Lan's dad told us that it was out of the question. Then we got locked into our room and the air was getting sucked out!

Lan, Maylu and I jacked our Navis into the system to deal with the viruses.

**Avatar**

We were working on the viruses for who knows how long, whipping them with everything we had until Roll had to log out!

Then a strange new Navi showed up. His name was SavageMan!

Megaman took out all the viruses, but his Mega Buster wouldn't work on the guy!

Lan gave Megaman a Program Advance Data Cannon, and that worked.

**Will**

We finally got our air back, but suddenly the walls went a different color, and a dimensional area was made around the lab! Then viruses started appearing!

"Will, could you get me down a level quickly? We need to get those Synchro Chips!"

"You're speaking my language! Get on!"

We got down there, but another Navi swiped almost all the Synchro Chips, leaving SavageMan to wreck the place!

Lan got the draw on me, and used a Synchro Chip that had been dropped. To say I was impressed was an understatement.

Then they took their fight outside. I wheeled out just in time to see Lan use a super-powered Mega Buster!

I rolled over to him as SavageMan logged out and the dimensional area disappeared. Lan's Cross Fusion ended, and he fell down. He was okay.

I got there in time to hear Lan say quietly, "Cross Fusion might have upped the Mega-Buster's power, but it sure didn't do the same for me!"

My skate-stop tapped the edge of Lan's PET, sending it up into my hand. "How are you doing, Megaman?"

"Uh…okay, I think."

"That answer gets you to Doctor Hikari." I wheeled off to find him.

* * *

I didn't see Lan again until late the next day. I was at CyLab before he was.

Doctor Hikari was worried about the Dimensional Area that had appeared. There were only two Synchro Chips left from that raid.

Lan couldn't believe the Cross Fusion had happened, and neither could Megaman.

Doctor Hikari had guessed that the reason they were able to Cross-Fuse was their friendship. Then Lan had to tear off to find Chisao, and I dragged him off.

* * *

We ended up floating above NetCity in a hologram, and then a large wall appeared and disappeared, and then the hologram quit.

"Why do I have the feeling that it's going to get worse before it gets better?" Lan asked. Then he answered his own question. "Because it usually does."

Lan, Maylu and I jacked in our Net Navis to try to keep NetCity from being deleted.

**Avatar**

Megaman and I leaped up into the giant cyber-saucer that was deleting NetCity, and then we found an army of viruses!

We both set to work deleting them all. It took a lot of battle chips and then we found the source of the data. Of course, we ended up running into Savageman, and Megaman had to be logged out. Will logged me out again, too.

**Will**

A dimensional area suddenly appeared!

"How bad are things going to get?" Lan asked.

When viruses appeared, I glared at Lan. "You had to ask."

Lan started downloading battle chips so that he could have something to fight with, and then downloaded the Synchro Chip.

"Lan…" Okay, I'll admit it: I was jealous. With my rep, there was no way Doctor Hikari would give me the other Synchro Chip.

We went and got Savageman's attention away from Maylu and Chisao, and Lan punched him out and deleted all the viruses. Then he attacked Savageman with a Wide Sword, making the creep log out.

The dimensional area went down, and Lan did admit that he was feeling weak.

* * *

"That synchro chip is yours to keep."

All I could do was stare at Doctor Hikari. Lan could _keep_ that synchro chip? But…but…

Then Keefa, the head of security, offered to make both me and Lan Net Savers.

"I think that's what we're _already_ doing!" Lan remarked to Megaman.

"Yeah…" I rolled my eyes, and then pointed at myself. "But how come _I_ get to be a Net Saver? I can't Cross-Fuse."

"That's not a requirement, Will. Mainly, it's that we've heard of your hacking capabilities and, how do I put this…"

"And since you can't make her listen when you tell her not to, you'd rather her abilities were on your side," Avatar remarked from my hip.

I straightened up, choosing to ignore that. "Sir, it would be an honor."

_Still…I wish I could cross fuse. That's something epic that Lan got to do before I did._

* * *

**A/N: Axess is on the loose! ^_^**


	17. Hard Feelings

_**Hard Feelings**_

* * *

**Avatar**

Will and Lan went to an air show. Megaman whipped Lan ten times on a simulator game, and then we got a mission call. Apparently there was a virus attack – here!

Megaman and I were jacked in to deal with it, and we whipped all the viruses.

Then the security navis went bad because of Shadowman, and they came after us!

A bunch of shots all coming from the same place took out the security navis before they could hurt us, though, and Shadowman got edged by a shot. Then, after he left, a new navi came running up.

He introduced himself as Searchman, and also told us what his Net-Op's mission was: defending the Control X tower.

While he and Megaman argued about the deletion of all the security navis, I studied him. He was only about a head taller than Megaman, which didn't give him all that much gain in height on me, and he wore a green and brown camouflage armor suit and helmet. His weapon was a carried rifle with his patterning, and his shoulder-length hair was orange, along with a targeting lens in front of one eye. His eyes were red-brown, and he had a stern expression.

Then…Searchman effectively told Megaman to stay out of his way, because the little blue was too weak to do the job right.

And…Shadowman came back, this time taking over the old control tower. Was this going to get worse already?

Searchman effectively said that he was staying put to guard the Control X tower, while Megaman was determined for him to come with us. I finally grabbed Megaman's arm and dragged him off. "Come on, Megaman, there's no sense in arguing with this hardhead."

Megaman couldn't resist one last parting shot at Mister 'My Orders Are Final,' though. "Then you're just as heartless as Shadowman."

* * *

We got to the old tower, and freed all the security navis, but then we had to deal with a multiplied Shadowman!

Finally, we got the real one to reveal himself, but then he used a Dark Chip, and he gave us a hard enough time to where we were both flat on the ground and ready to be deleted when –

A couple shots came out of nowhere and deleted Shadowman!

* * *

We went back to thank Searchman for bailing us out. (Megaman's idea, not mine; I still thought he was a hardhead.)

After a couple harsh comments, he did finally say "You're welcome" as he was walking off.

I took a breath, and then… "Searchman?"

He paused and looked back.

I couldn't bring myself to say it. I couldn't thank him like Megaman had. So… "Take care of your Net-Op, will ya?"

How he got "thank you" out of that without any practice, I don't know. But he gave a partial wave at me as he logged out.

* * *

**Lan**

"Will has been in a really bad mood lately," I commented to Megaman at school. "I just don't get it."

"Yeah, and most especially around us. I really have to talk to Avatar about it."

After a conversation with Chaud where he just walked off, we found a clue and headed to the factory.

* * *

Slipping in, we found sand on the floor, and started looking for a secret door. Of course, we found one, but then we got locked in!

**Chaud**

I went into the factory and Miss Yuri confronted me, informing me that they were going to destroy the factory! And then a dark blur dragged me out of the way of a falling pillar!

"Will?"

"Hey, Chaud. I've got your back."

"Thanks, but shouldn't you be watching _Lan's_ back? He needs it more than I do."

Will went strangely silent. Then she finally spoke. "_Lan_," she said the name with contempt, "can handle himself."

"Are you sure you're all right?"

Then a dimensional area came up.

"Lan must be in here." I Cross-Fused and pulled her to a safer place. Then I left her there and vaulted to Lan's rescue, defeating Desertman.

* * *

After that, we set off again. Will rolled away from us as quickly as she could, with a quick congratulations to me.

"She's been like that for weeks," Lan sounded confused. "I don't get it."

"I think I know what her problem is. She knew, thanks to being with you when you first Cross-Fused, that there were only two Synchro Chips left. When Doctor Hikari gave you one of them, she couldn't help but be resentful of you for doing something she also wanted to do. My Synchro Chip was her only hope of being able to fight with Avatar beside you and Megaman. But then your father gave it to me instead. He didn't want to tell her about it, because he knew her hopes were on it."

"And now she can't Cross-Fuse until more Synchro Chips are made," Lan finished my sentence.

I just nodded.

"But why did he give _you_ the Synchro Chip instead of Will, if he knew she wanted to Cross-Fuse?"

I laughed. "She doesn't work with others very well. If she had a Synchro Chip, she'd take on more solo missions than you do."

* * *

**A/N: Episodes 12 and 13 take credit. Will's probably going to have that bad mood for a while.**


	18. New Guy

**_The New Guy_**

* * *

**Will**

I was called to CyLab so that I could be introduced to a new Net Saver. Famous had asked me not to dye my hair, but I did anyway: neon pink.

"Hey…" I asked Famous, "where's the new guy?"

"Lan's showing him around."

I growled to myself. Lan would charm the guy!

"You can use this time to get your hair fixed."

Then I glared at Famous.

I chose to avoid Lan and the new guy, Raika. Well…not _totally_ avoid them; I stayed close enough to where I could see them, even if they couldn't see me, so that I could study the new guy.

_Green jacket, white gloves, a tie and the ugliest hat on the planet…yup, he looks like a real stuffed shirt._

While Lan was practicing his Cross Fusion, I studied Raika some more. He actually seemed to disapprove of Cross Fusion!

**Raika**

I couldn't believe that Cross Fusion was the only defense that these Net Savers had against the DarkLoids. When I confronted them about it, Famous told me, "Well…one of our Net Savers does try to fight on her own inside the Dimensional Areas whenever she happens to be inside one, which is…a more common circumstance than one would expect. She's around Lan's age, but is probably a little closer to yours. It's…difficult to imagine someone like her or her Net Navi Avatar unless you actually meet them."

"All right, well…where is she?"

"Will is…around here somewhere. I saw her practically right after you left with Lan for your tour of CyLab, and haven't seen her since."

"I see."

"She's a bit of a rebel, so if she hasn't tried again at making a first impression, don't be too surprised."

I wondered what that entailed.

* * *

**Will**

I hung out nearby, just watching Lan and Raika as they talked a little over lunch. I wasn't hungry.

"Will?" Avatar called up. "Remember my talking to you about Searchman?"

"The hardheaded walking rulebook?"

"Yeah, him; this guy's his Net-Op!"

"_That_ figures."

Then Raika said something that I agreed with: that a person doesn't know what's possible until one tried it oneself! That's _my _principle! What's more, he was talking about fighting the DarkLoids without a Dimensional Area!

I grinned big. Lan's ego needed a shot like that.

Then a call came in through Lan's PET. I heard Famous' comment easily. "Take Raika and go deal with the problem, and if you run into Will, bring her."

"But Mister Famous, I can't work with this guy! And Will's been acting up lately!"

"Work that out later; right now, go!"

* * *

I decided that I'd pulled my game long enough. I met up with them at the theater….kind of. We didn't outright cross paths outside the building. I jacked in Avatar at Raika's door, deciding Lan didn't technically need my help.

The doors opened, and people poured out. Raika started carefully edging through the crowds, and I decided that method was too slow.

Rolling really fast, I leaped up onto the wall. "Coming through!" I yelled, swerving almost right over Raika's head. Since we were on a mission, I didn't bother doing any trick like taking his hat, though I considered it.

Then a Dimensional Area went up!

"So this is a Dimensional Area," Raika remarked, right around the time Lan and a Darkloid fell from the ceiling and crashed near us.

"Never been in one before, huh?" I asked.

"Raika, Will!" Lan yelled. "You have to clear the area, it's not safe for you here."

I glanced around at the viruses scattered on the floor. _I don't know about Raika, but being told what to do by someone shorter than me just gets my blood up._

Raika wasn't going to leave either! He was going to stay and fight! He may have been a stuffed shirt, but he sure wasn't afraid of getting his white gloves dirty!

He ran up the escalator, and I chased after him and his two virus followers, leaving Lan to deal with his friend Videoman.

"You know," I commented as I zipped past him, "I think I like you. You can really show Lan that he doesn't know all that he thinks he does."

He glanced at me and then said, "Formal introductions can happen later, but you must be Will."

"That's me!"

We got to the top, and he grabbed a fire extinguisher.

* * *

We outsmarted several viruses on the way, and then stopped on a balcony cornered by jellyfish viruses.

I glanced out at a light fixture. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

He pulled out a spy-gadget cable-thrower, got it tied around the light fixture, and then climbed up onto the railing! Then he looked back at me and held out a hand, for once a sense of humor showing itself to me. "Need a lift?"

I grinned and caught hold of his hand, stepping up as well. Then I got a better grip on him, he put his arm around me, and we swung off!

"_I_ want one of those!" I yelped, as we found a dimensional area generator, broke off the door, and Searchman and Avatar both took it out – her with her X-Bow, and him with his rifle.

Then we got back to Lan after the Dimensional Area went down just in time to hear him ask, "Wait…what happened to me?"

"_I_ happened," Raika retorted. I just snickered.

Lan looked so humiliated.

I didn't follow Raika as he left the building after he told Lan off.

"Will…" Lan looked at me with a pleading look in his eyes, "You don't _agree_ with him, do you?"

I turned a cool gaze on him, and let that speak for itself. Then I followed him.

**Raika**

I studied Will after the mission. She really did look older than Lan by enough to where she possibly had a driver's license, but her hair was dyed a bright pink. She held her head high, possibly in regards to Lan.

"When Lan answered Famous' call," I remarked as she started rolling around me, "he said that you were…acting up. What did he mean by that?"

"Oh…I had been sour for a few days because he could Cross-Fuse and I couldn't. For a bit, I'd just forgotten about my usual habits of trying to do anything, purely because someone told me I couldn't."

"That's your principle?"

"Well, I'm smart enough to pull most of it off."

_She certainly is, and she didn't lose her head or get in my way during this mission. Avatar's pretty skilled as well._ I smiled at her. _It seems as if her only real problems are her eccentricities, and those are fairly minor._

**Will**

I smiled right back at Raika. He liked me! He really liked me over Lan!

* * *

Then I went with Lan and Raika to the chief's office for a ghost case.

The two of them ended up arguing about being sent on the ghost-virus case. Finally, the chief told them to try to work together.

"Yes sir," said Raika.

"Okay," said Lan. Lan was still glaring at Raika, though.

"Will," the chief told me, "I'd rather you stayed back. We can't have all our Net Savers on the case."

"Okay…I'll stay back."

* * *

Then, later, Raika got enough data to track invisible viruses. Of course, he managed to get on Lan's nerves and Lan ran off.

Then Raika looked at me and smiled. "I might not be able to work with Lan, but I _can_ work with you."

I grinned at him. "Shall we track down a thief?"

"But of course."

* * *

**Avatar**

Searchman and I got there in time to save Megaman! But…

He couldn't shoot! If he shot Desertman, he'd end up indirectly deleting Megaman! However, he was ordered to shoot Desertman!

"I can't save Megaman," I told him. "My skills don't lie that way."

He saved Megaman instead. It got him badly, though. Then Megaman fused with Searchman to make DoubleSoul SearchSoul!

Raika wasn't very happy with Searchman, though; he disobeyed a direct order. I hoped he wouldn't suffer too much from that.

* * *

**Will**

We saw Raika off. Avatar ended up giggling over Searchman's response to Megaman's gratitude.

I held out my hand to Raika. "Nice working with you, Raika."

He did shake my hand. "The same goes for you…presuming that you could handle cutting back on that hair dye."

I tried my hardest not to laugh as he went up to his plane.

"I will give you one thing, Lan," Raika said. "You have an excellent Net Navi. We were able to win because of Megaman's exceptional skills." Then he looked back. "Don't let it go to your head. Just because I think your _Net Navi_ has skills doesn't mean I think _you_ have any."

I started laughing outright.

"You'd better get on that plane!" Lan yelled.

"Hope _our_ paths cross again, Searchman!" Megaman called. "But next time, try not to bring that Raika guy along, right Lan?"

* * *

"I can't believe this!" I yelled at Avatar and the mirror as I rinsed my green-and-brown hair out. "I'm not hunting for a guy – I haven't been for years! I'm not guy-shopping! How can _any_ guy possibly get my attention like _that_? This could ruin my rep!"

"You mean Raika?" Avatar asked from her PET.

I threw my hair into a towel, grabbed the PET and set it screen-down so that she couldn't see me blushing. "I don't know what you're talking about."

**Avatar**

I smiled. _Raika._

* * *

**A/N: Yup - Will's got a crush.**


	19. NetNavi Damage!

**_Net-Navi Damage!_**

* * *

**Will**

After any number of adventures – some I was a part of, some I wasn't – we ended up having to go rescue some girl who'd effectively attempted to poison Protoman.

I got into the helicopter with them.

"You realize," Chaud commented, "you're putting yourself at risk, coming in with us."

I sniffed. Risk was my middle name.

Just about the time we got above the boat – Protoman was driving – a Dimensional Area started going up!

We managed to land inside…barely. The thing crashed. Then viruses appeared all around us! We had to bail as a virus trashed what was left of the helicopter, and then the two boys Cross-Fused. I ran to find some out-of-the-way place to make plans of fitting into the battle.

* * *

As it turned out, I didn't have to do anything – the boys whipped the viruses. Then we found Miss Yuri, and we were railroaded into a trap. At least we found Anetta, as well as Doctor Regal.

He chose to brag about what he was doing, as I glanced around for some way to get to Anetta without attracting attention.

Then Shademan appeared. And amazingly, the first thing he noticed was Doctor Regal, and they started arguing. Of course, then the boys rushed to fight him. I slipped up and actually managed to get Anetta from the chair while Doctor Regal watched the one-sided fight that got two Program Advances.

That killed their cross-fusion, and Shademan was still there! So I spun and went down to the boys while Doctor Regal's…whatever it was…took down the dimensional area generators.

Anetta was fine, but we had to get out of here before Shademan destroyed the boat!

Running wasn't an option, and fighting…our Navis were getting creamed!

Then Chaud used the Dark Chip we'd gotten from Anetta on Protoman!

We won…but was it worth it? We couldn't delete him, but if we left him around, he'd become our enemy!

Protoman gave Megaman Proto-Soul, and he managed to log Shademan out – finally!

But…we lost Protoman.

And there was nothing either Avatar or I could do about it.

* * *

Chaud spent a while after that flipping out. Which made sense, he effectively lost his Navi.

Cylab was making a new PET that would block out the Dark Chip's energy.

I found Lan and Chaud fighting, and then I saw that…Chaud was crying! Then _Lan_ was crying, and he managed to get Chaud thinking positive.

I wheeled over to Lan. "Chaud might be extremely business-oriented, but he's fine. I'll go catch him."

I chased after the limo.

* * *

It was, frankly, a good thing I did, because a dimensional area went up around BlazeQuest!

I went with Chaud. Then he asked me to – whenever we found a terminal – send Avatar into the net to wait for whatever was trying to get into the system.

We took down a lot of rubble onto GravityMan, but he was still around! We shut a security door in his face, but he got through, and Lan took him on. We found the controls, and it was Protoman! Chaud set a trap for him, and it actually worked, and there were still three minutes left. Then the building shook! Lan got pounded into a wall, and then started trying to lift something heavy to throw at Gravityman.

"Hurry up!" Chaud yelled.

"I'm _trying_! _You_ want to come down here and try this?"

I couldn't help but laugh as Lan finally managed to win. Chaud got his disc, and had one last conversation before Protoman logged out.

Then Chaud teased Lan a little over the property damage. Boys…

* * *

Some time later, while trying out a new toy inside an enemy-set dimensional area – it would only work when Chaud was using the thing – Protoman showed up!

I stared: the guy had changed! "Protoman…when did you move to the madhouse? Because I must say, I preferred you with the _black_ visor."

Lan had no choice but to fight him, but the guy logged out before much even happened.

* * *

Then we ran into a problem: a series of robberies, all done by Prismman – in the _real_ world!

Chaud was still sort of sulking over Protoman's new look and attitude.

Lan ended up saving some policemen inside the dimensional area, and Chaud picked Prismman's NetOp up – he needed medication. His Dark Synchro Chip had stressed his heart.

We talked to him later. Evidently, someone who'd looked like a net saver woman had given him a Dark Synchro Chip.

* * *

Then our rescuee took off in an ambulance! We found Miss Mari, and while Chaud stayed with Miss Mari, Lan took off to challenge Prismman. I followed purely to watch.

The two ended up fighting, Cross-Fused, in a park. Suddenly I could see why Raika didn't want Cross-Fusion to be the only advantage.

Before Lan could do too much, Dark Protoman showed up for a back-stab! Chaud came by with some battle chips, and left that guy on the run, leaving Lan to try again in taking on Prismman. Both had impacts on the chest symbols!

Protoman chose that instant to run like a coward, but Megaman was damaged, too!

* * *

"I've never seen Megaman hurt this badly during Cross-Fusion before!" Doctor Hikari exclaimed as analysis was run on the Navi. "Are you sure _you're_ all right, Lan?"

Lan wasn't worried about himself.

Still, the best were working on Megaman to get him recovered.

Then later, we found Raoul! He'd come to town to visit, and there was trouble brewing in the form of another Darkloid.

Then Tory got a call, and he told us about it – trouble with the water system, and it was that same dumb Darkloid.

Thunderman and Avatar went in to deal with it, but there was trouble in another location with a second Darkloid, and there was no way I would be able to get Avatar there in time!

Still, we decided to work with the problem we had, and convinced the idiot to log out.

* * *

We met up at HQ, and Boss thanked Raoul.

Then Raika showed up! And he and Raoul were acting…indifferent…to each other. Raika was calling him a civilian, and I'm not entirely sure what Raoul's problem was.

Lan's dad called, and requested that Lan come by and help out with an idea to save Megaman: using Cross-Fusion to fix the guy!

This I had to see, so I decided to ignore the other guys and watched.

Lan had a chicken switch, so that he could back down if he had to, but I doubted he'd use it.

Trouble started elsewhere, and Raika and Raoul went to deal with it. Somehow, I figured they'd come back friends.

Lan was enduring a lot of pain to save Megaman. I admired that in the kid.

* * *

Finally, Megaman was repaired, and he just needed a new PET.

* * *

**A/N: I hated this: the last two episodes in this chapter were in Japanese, without subtitles. I hope I find a few more that are actually with something English (dub or sub, I don't care).**


	20. Sudden Happenstances

**_Sudden Happenstances_**

* * *

**Will**

Finally, the PET for Megaman was done, and it would help him tap his power in Cross-Fusion fully. And while the PET was still not quite done initializing, Protoman showed up to try to trash it!

Anetta saved the PET, and bolted! Chaud cut off Protoman once, but he had to keep trying in cutting the guy off. Finally, Anetta was back with Chaud, and they were heading for the underground lab.

I was already there, waiting for them. I got to watch DarkProtoman give a near-haircut and get trapped inside the dimensional area generator. Novaman nearly trashed them, but Lan dropped a grate on his head, got his PET and Cross-Fused to kick Novaman's butt!

He was stronger than ever! Everything Novaman was throwing wouldn't work, and he finally deleted the guy!

Of course, then Protoman got out by breaking his own sword, and after a few cracks about coming back later, he left.

"You notice how they always say that?" I asked the ceiling.

* * *

After a few weeks where Lan was the only Cross-Fuser able to fight inside a Dimensional Area, the power of the new PET went to Lan's head.

Chaud came to me and asked, "Could you help me take Lan's overconfidence down?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"I…was hoping _you_ had an idea."

"I'm…better at coming up with high-speed pranks than what you're actually suggesting."

So Chaud called Raoul to help us out.

* * *

He met up with us later, and we went to the mall to find a disguise to use for becoming bad guys. I sat back with Chaud and we watched Raoul go through a couple different headpieces.

He ended up picking an afro, and got Chaud into a costume as well.

"I don't know what it is about afros," I remarked, more to Chaud than to Raoul, "but when I see someone with one, I just get the urge to punch them out."

I surprised a laugh out of Chaud.

The costume Raoul picked out for me was…a bit more extreme than I normally wear: a dress, a curly wig, and platform high heels.

"Uh…I think I'll just let Chaud use Avatar, and keep an eye on you guys from a distance, okay?"

"Oh no you don't," Chaud gave me the costume and shoved me through the door of a dressing room. "If _I've_ got to do this, then _you've_ got to do this!"

"Okay, okay, fine!"

* * *

We lay in wait at a warehouse, and Chaud sent an email to Lan. When he finally came, we waited just long enough for him to start getting nervous, and then showed ourselves…kind of. Thunderman, in a disguise of his own, was controlling the system to get Lan's attention and battle Megaman. Avatar was staying back, because even with a disguise, she was too recognizable.

Then we showed ourselves, calling ourselves "Mass Thunder's" NetOps. Which was lame, because everyone knows Darkloids don't have NetOps. Raoul's put-on voice was okay…but when _Chaud_ spoke…

I stared at him from behind my shades. Was that raunchy-sounding afro-boy in the white Elvis suit really _Chaud_? _This is a side of Chaud I've never seen before…and do I really want to see it again?_

I was still too much in a state of shock to think too straight. So I twisted my own voice and instructed, gesturing wildly, "Take 'im down, boys!"

I still felt like I was going to die of embarrassment with the way those two were acting. Both were dressed like, and _acting_ like, rock-and-roll wannabes! And this was a grown man and _Chaud_ we were talking about!

We were doing a decent job of beating Megaman, but neither would give up, no matter how much we tried leaving!

Finally, an actual Darkloid showed up and we could run off. We had to help Lan fight Swordman.

Avatar was able to help this time, but it took a double-soul with Thunderman to win!

Finally, we explained to Lan what our plot was about, and he basically said that yes, we did the right thing in knocking his snob side down a few notches. "Of course, you also weakened Megaman, making us almost lose against Swordman. Tell you what: since we're both wrong, you don't owe me an apology and I don't owe you one."

We saw Raoul off, and I looked over at Chaud. "Honestly, Chaud, that Darkloid NetOp persona is one I don't want to see again anytime soon. The outfit's fine, minus the wig and glasses, but…"

"Don't worry," Chaud laughed, "I doubt _I'll_ want to use it again very soon, either."

* * *

A few weeks after that, Lan and I got intercepted at the mall and taken to the airport. The two suits were both dragging Lan backwards between them, and one of them had a hold of my arm and was pulling me along, reminding me of that time when we first met Raoul and I was being dragged around by the kids.

Lan was whining, and I suspected by the suits' odd accents that this was actually a mission.

Called it – Doctor Hikari was shipping us to Sharo!

Fridgeman apparently was taking over a rare-metal mine. Lan was the only one who could get through the Dimensional Area, and I was coming along to help outside.

We got there and spotted a bunch of people dressed like Raika – and here was Raika himself!

* * *

We were briefed further. Something was bothering Raika.

We rode out to the Dimensional Area, and Raika revealed that the weather right now was warm to him! And he also said that all the rules and regulations were key to the survival of everyone in Sharo.

"I think…I'm glad that I don't live in Sharo."

We got to the Dimensional Area, and the thing, apparently, couldn't sustain itself forever, so it had to shut down and re-form periodically.

"Cool! That means I can get in the next time it fluxes!"

"Will…bad pun."

I shivered. "Yeah…I'm with you there."

Raika seemed interested in trying something…outside the parameters of his superior officer's mission.

We loaded onto the snowmobile, timed it, and charged down the hill towards the glowing wall…

Lan leaped off, setting his Synchro Chip!

Then Raika suddenly primed himself to jump! I leaped up as well, wrapped my arms around him, and pushed off at the same time he did! He grabbed hold of Lan, and the Dimensional Area formed up around all three of us!

That was the singular most painful moment of my life, and it seemed the same way to Raika, but we all made it through – to a crash landing inside. Lan broke our fall.

"Ow…I should remember that – grabbing hold of Lan when he's going at top speed can get me through the Dimensional Area with him." I glared at Raika. "Very funny, getting ready to leave me outside – I don't know how to drive a snowmobile, and the thing was going fast enough to have driven me through the side of the Dimensional Area _without_ a Synchro Chip! You do that again, and I'll fire you!" That last one was a joke…kind of.

"My apologies, Will."

Raika…wouldn't tell us what his reasons were for getting inside. That had been reckless for him! It wasn't even something _I'd_ have tried under normal circumstances!

Then a virus alerted all the others to our presence, and Fridgeman showed up!

We dodged equipment, and Raika got hold of a mining car. Lan and I jumped into the back while Megaman was jacked into one of the machines to deal with the viruses within.

"Never a dull moment, huh Lan?"

"Yeah."

We ended up going really fast, ran out of track, and Megaman had to catch us with the crane he'd taken over.

Walking through a tunnel, Lan compared the temperature to Antarctica, and Raika replied, "Antarctica's often warmer than Sharo."

"How did I _know_ you were going to say that?"

I shivered. I _hate_ cold! "How did I get talked into coming to an ice block?"

Lan started yelling at Raika about how the guy was keeping secrets from us. I just puffed out a sigh and watched the frost I'd breathed fade away. "Men."

We finally stopped and built a fire. Raika shared his emergency rations with us, and Lan had to be rude about it. I didn't think it was that great either, but at least I wasn't going to complain. I glared at him. "It's called emergency rations for a reason, Lan. What did you expect, a gourmet meal? Sorry, but we won't get that until the mission's over."

Finally, Raika told us why he was down here: a hero of Sharo was trapped, and he had to rescue him.

"But why didn't you tell us before?"

"I was embarrassed. I always follow orders, and now I've disobeyed one."

I suspected there was another reason he was embarrassed, but before I could even decide if I was going to venture a guess, a virus broke in! More followed it, and Raika threw a smokescreen and dragged both of us along. Then we fell down an old shaft into a deeper part of the mine.

We were okay. Then of all things, I heard barking!

Raika was showing the most emotion I'd seen all night, and he started running in the direction of the sound. "Hurry, before it's too late!"

_I knew it: his hero, who probably really is a hero to Sharo, is his dog._

We got to a room, where a small brown dog was waiting for us.

"Morazov!" Raika's voice held more emotion than I'd ever heard from him in all the time I've known him, and I actually got to hear him laugh as the dog licked his face.

_He really does care for the thing._ I couldn't keep the smile off my own face. I just hoped Lan wouldn't ruin the moment.

Well…he sort of didn't. "A dog's the hero?"

Raika explained how Morazov had found the rare metals. Every time he said something with that same warm emotion in it, my smile got bigger.

"Why didn't you tell us from the very beginning?" Lan asked.

I was curious to learn the answer to that.

"I didn't want to get you into any trouble on my account. Our orders were only to save this mine."

Lan said a few lines that were actually meaningful! How it was important to sometimes do more than follow orders, like helping your friends!

Suddenly, Fridgeman's voice interrupted the moment! Then he showed up for real!

Lan Cross-Fused, and Raika grabbed the dog and we both ran out to leave Lan to fight the guy.

* * *

Lan was winning, and then Fridgeman ran into the Cyber World to escape.

Megaman was going to go after him, but Raika just said, "There's no need." And then he actually grinned!

Sure enough, Searchman had gotten tired of chasing Fridgeman all over the place, so he just sat around and waited for the guy to come back, so he could shoot him!

Raika was cracking more smiles in this one hour than he had in the whole time before we got inside the Dimensional Area.

The Dimensional Area went down…and I sneezed.

"Are you okay, Will?"

"I think," I rubbed my nose, "that I'm going to get pneumonia."

* * *

Back at the base, Lan was congratulated on his work. Raika was just standing there hanging his head.

His boss's choice of punishment for Raika was forbidding him from eating any desserts for a month and a half. I suspected at least part of that was a joke, if these guys joke at all.

Both Lan and Raika straightened up in surprise at that.

Apparently, Raika was this guy's nephew! _Troublemaker_ nephew, at that! They all started laughing a little, and so did I…although I couldn't stop shivering. _Lan_ was taking it better than I was!

Then Raika walked over to me. "Are you all right?"

"Y-y-yeah, I'm fine." I hated stuttering like that, but even my _hair_ was cold!

"Will has a…slight difficulty tolerating cold weather," Avatar spoke up from my hip.

I glared down at her. "Th-thanks a lot!"

"It's true."

"Raika?" Searchman suddenly called.

Raika pulled out his PET and looked at the screen.

I don't know if he said anything else, but Raika held his PET up to his ear like it was a phone and listened. I couldn't hear what Searchman was saying, but I could make out he was whispering.

Somehow…I suspected Avatar had tipped Searchman off on something, and now he was passing it on to his Net-Op. How often was she going to do that?

He put away his PET after giving it a slight smile, and then just studied me for a second.

"W-what'd he say?" I was trying valiantly not to sniffle. I think I really did catch cold or something.

Instead of answering, he suddenly hugged me!

Suddenly, I felt warm again. _Very_ warm.

_Oh, that's what Avatar said: I'm not used to people hugging me, so it tends to set off a sudden-heat reaction._

Somehow, though, I couldn't bring myself to be mad at my Navi.

* * *

**A/N: Episodes 36, 37, and 40 take credit.**


	21. Concussions and Crossing Gaps

**_Concussions and Crossing Gaps_**

* * *

**Will**

We got home, and I recovered from the pneumonia I'd caught at Sharo.

**Avatar**

It wasn't pneumonia. It was a cold, and not even a bad one at that.

**Will**

Who's telling this story, you or me? _Anyway_, some time later, Chaud found where Dr. Regal's base could be found – outer space!

"Cool!"

I cocked my head. "A stealth-cloaked satellite…doesn't sound interesting enough to follow along on."

"Really, Will? That's…an odd statement, coming from you."

We went over to Cylab, and saw that the Vaccine Chip was all but complete! And Doctor Hikari had some ideas on how to find the satellite.

I'd spaced out after a while.

* * *

For whatever reason, I'd opted to stay with Chaud. Anetta came by during the lunch break, and Chaud explained what the Control X system was, and how we were using it to find the satellite.

I'd jacked Avatar into the Control X system, just in case some Darkloid showed up. "Stay on the alert, girl."

Finally, we set the program running. Anetta chose to stay and "help." Chaud thought it was a bad idea, and so did I.

My mind wandered. "I really ought to give Raika a Banshee Battle Chip. I was going to give you one, Chaud, but I hadn't gotten around to it before…well…"

"Why would you give me one of _your_ Battle Chips?"

"Because…I found this out with Roll and Iceman, but when they connected with Banshees, the two chips rewrote themselves, and afterwards only responded to them! I gave Lan one to try with Megaman, and it did the same thing!"

"Wow. Good thing you make a lot of Banshees."

"Yup!"

* * *

Lan called asking how we were doing, and Chaud basically said we needed more time and Lan would have to handle it on his own.

I was almost sad I'd chosen to stay here and miss out on all the action.

A cable broke, and Anetta read the data out to Chaud from a screen for him to enter manually.

"Avatar, what's going on in there?"

"I…think someone else is here."

"Find him! Quickly!"

"Yes, ma'am."

Then a Dimensional Area went up!

"We're almost there," Chaud stressed, "just a little more…"

Then DarkProtoman came blasting in! Lan also blasted in Cross-Fused, but it didn't take long for him to get blasted and the Cross-Fusion came undone!

I started rolling towards him as fast as I could. "Go on, Chaud, I'll hold him off!"

Time slowed down. DarkProtoman swung his sword at me…I ducked it – pretty sure I no longer have any split ends after that – caught his arm on its backswing…pulled it around behind his back…jumped up onto his back…locked my arms around his neck…my legs around his waist…his sword was trapped between me and him…

Then time went back to normal and I realized I'd just done something monumentally stupid. Now that I was here, now what? I couldn't let go, because he'd just seriously injure me!

I heard Chaud say something about finding Regal, but right before I could do anything, I realized what DarkProtoman's plan was. He was still running full-tilt at the Control X system with his head down! His helmet would take the hit, but my head wouldn't!

I shut my eyes and started to loosen my grip. Then I heard a crash and felt the worst pain. I think I yelled something before I blacked out.

**Chaud**

I watched in horror as Will's arms and legs went limp, and then DarkProtoman yanked his sword free, slashing Will across the chest and throwing her across the room, and slashed the control system for good measure!

"When will you learn you can't win, Chaud?" Then the Dimensional Area went down and he logged out.

Anetta, fortunately, remembered the coordinates, even though they were only on the screen for a second.

Lan and I went to check on Will. She was out cold, with a deep slash slanting down across her chest and blood making its own patterns through her purple hair dye.

* * *

We called an ambulance, and Will was taken to the hospital. I was holding her PET, and Avatar was crying.

"Did…did she say something right on the crash?" Lan asked.

"I heard it," Megaman added, "but I couldn't understand what she said."

"I understood it." I sighed. "She said, 'Raika.'"

* * *

**Avatar**

I was with Chaud. My reasoning was sound enough for him to go with it.

"_You_ don't have a Net Navi and _I_ don't have a Net-Op. I can stay with you until either you get Protoman back or Will wakes up, whichever happens first."

"Okay."

Vaguely entertaining was how Lan decided to bail with his friends on a rocket to the satellite, though I wished I could follow along.

* * *

Especially once the satellite started falling towards Earth with Lan and the others on board!

JunkDataMan saved them at practically the last second. I'd almost forgotten the guy existed.

* * *

Then later I surfed the web and found Rush. "Hey, little guy, I wanted to ask you something."

He barked.

"Well…now that Protoman's gone to the wrong side, there's only one Cross-Fuser: Lan."

He barked again, nodding.

"There will be times when he needs backup…how _do_ you jump between the real world and the cyber world, anyway?"

He made the cutest little sound, which bore a strong resemblance to "Uhh…"

"Tell you what," my queue glided over my shoulder, "how about instead of you trying to figure out how you do it, I link up with you and find out for myself?" I just let my braid suspend itself practically right in front of Rush's face, to let him decide for himself.

He stared at my queue for a long moment. Then he grabbed my braid and set it against the back of his neck. At least he remembered how this trick of mine worked.

The tip merged with his neck, and his eyes went vacant. And suddenly…I don't know how, but I suddenly felt like I could cross the gap! I could almost see how it worked! I stood up, picking up Rush with one hand and setting him on my shoulders, and held a hand out in front of me.

And a portal opened!

Taking a deep breath, I stepped through.

**Lan**

I was hanging out with Chaud in the park – I don't remember _why_ anymore – but suddenly, a huge portal like what Rush comes through appeared! And it was _Avatar_ who stepped through – all ten feet of her!

The portal closed behind her and she blinked. "It worked!"

"Ah…what worked?" Chaud asked, sounding kind of numb.

"I queue-linked with Rush, and that let me jump between worlds!" She lifted the little guy down from her shoulders, bending over to set him on the ground. His eyes were blank until she removed her braid from his neck. Then he shook himself and barked.

"So, uh…what brings you here, anyway?" I asked, trying to sound cool.

"Since Protoman's kind of on the wrong side," Avatar explained, "I figured you'd appreciate a little backup in the Dimensional Areas."

"Would I ever! Thanks, Avatar!" I held out my hand, and she shook it. I couldn't believe how my hand was totally hidden inside hers – it was like I had elf hands or something!

She looked at Chaud. "You can hold onto my PET until Will wakes up if you want, or let Anetta carry it around. Your choice." Then she set her hand on his head like he was a little boy. "Like I said earlier, I know what you're going through."

* * *

**A/N: Will's going to be in a coma for the rest of Axess. Saying any more than that will be spoiling the story.**


	22. Protoman Restored!

**_Protoman Restored!_**

* * *

**Avatar**

I sat on the floor next to Will's bed. She seemed so pale, like a ghost, and her colorless hair only added to the appearance.

I was on the floor for two reasons, and both had to do with my height. One, sitting down on the floor put my head at a level with Doctor Hikari, and two, there wasn't a chair in the place that could take my weight.

_Why, besides the fact that it was the size scope in the movie, did Will program me ten feet tall? It's inconvenient in the real world._

I carefully touched her face. It was cool, but not so cold that it meant her body had stopped working. Something about her face was bothering me, though. I couldn't place it, but something was wrong, and it wasn't the lack of hair dye.

* * *

Doctor Hikari had called me in as a sort of stand-in for Will during the mission of restoring Protoman to normal. The room next to the abandoned hotel was…not quite tall enough for me, so I was kneeling next to Raika. He seemed a little unnerved by my being there. Well, tough.

Also tough about Chaud wanting to do this alone, because we were standing by him no matter what, according to Lan and everybody in the room.

"Besides," I added with a slight smile, "what else am I going to do with my time, stress out over Will? Not productive."

"All right, I give up!" Chaud finally said with a smile. "Thanks for your help, everyone! …There, are you happy?"

All of us nodded, and I was more than a little amused.

"Okay! Now, is everybody ready?" Doctor Hikari asked.

"Yes, sir!" came a chorus around the room.

"Keep your fingers crossed. Avatar, since it takes you a while to maneuver through doorways without breaking anything, you get into position first."

"Roger that," I saluted, and got set to crawl out the door. "I'm going to talk to Will when she wakes up about giving me a size-altering program."

* * *

We started the plan right at 8:00 pm. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I hadn't seen DarkProtoman since…since he'd hurt Will! He had no idea I could jump worlds with Rush.

According to Lan's communication – and mine, I was carefully holding my PET – Chaud was inside the hotel with us!

"Uh, Avatar, where are you anyway?"

"Ground floor, practically right across from you."

"Okay, thanks."

The enemy's Dimensional Area went up, and DarkProtoman came in. He destroyed our generator, and then Lan Cross-Fused.

Then our own Dimensional Area went up around theirs, trapping DarkProtoman in. I stepped out. "Too bad, Protoman. Looks like you'll have to face us in order to leave."

He looked up at me. "Avatar! This is a new development. How'd you accomplish this?"

"Why would I tell you?"

Then our friends destroyed his way out, which he noticed. While he argued briefly with Lan, I winked randomly at the sky, whispering, "Thanks, Searchman!"

I was worried about how this was going, though: Protoman was trying to blast through the Dimensional Area, and each hit was dropping power! I confess, I was mostly letting Lan engage him, because I only had my Boomerang Bola, and I didn't know what would happen if I was hit, anyways.

Chaud finally appeared on a balcony, and Lan managed to absorb a lot of Protoman's dark energy. The Vaccine Chip was fired on him, and it almost worked.

But "almost" just doesn't cut it. I was beginning to think maybe I should just punch him and see what happened to the pipsqueak.

Then Chaud set another Vaccine Chip into Lan's Mega Buster, and Lan fired it into Protoman's symbol. It didn't seem to do anything that time, so I wondered what Chaud's plan was.

Then Protoman lunged for Chaud, Chaud jumped off the railing, and right as they were about to collide heads, Chaud downloaded his Synchro Chip!

Of course…then we had to deal with a Psycho Chaud.

Finally, Lan got a hold of Protoman's symbol, and started draining off the dark aura again. I admit, I'd gotten Chaud into a headlock to keep him still enough for Lan to do that.

The light show that resulted made me loosen my grip a little, but by then it didn't matter. I set Chaud – the real Chaud – down again.

Both Cross-Fusions ended and the Dimensional Areas went down. And…both Lan and Chaud looked like they'd just come off worst in a fight.

I found Chaud. "How are you doing?"

He opened one eye and just looked at me. "All right, I guess." He glanced at his PET. "You want to talk to Avatar, Protoman?"

"I...think I'd better before I power down."

Chaud started holding out his PET, but his arm started dropping. I rescued the thing before it hit the ground and looked at the screen.

Protoman bowed his head. "Avatar…I'm sorry for what happened to Will – I mean, what I did to Will. Has…has she woken up yet?"

"No, she hasn't. And…it's Will you'll need to apologize to, whenever she wakes up." I smiled. "Though, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if she just forgives you outright."

* * *

Later, we were all back at the hospital. Raika stood next to me. "How is she?"

"Same as last time you visited."

After a minute of silence, Raika said, "She looks so serious."

And that's when it hit me what was bothering me! Will _never_ had a serious expression on her face for long, even when she _was_ being serious! But sure enough, her eyebrows were drawn and a small frown was on her face.

"I wonder what's happening inside her head right now," I commented, glancing at Raika. "She yelled out your name right before she was knocked unconscious, you know."

"What?" He looked shocked.

"She did. She'll reprogram me if she ever finds out I told you this, but she's crazy about you. She isn't entirely sure why, but with her, it could be anything."

He stared at me in shock a little longer. Then he looked over at her. His expression was unreadable.

Of course it was unreadable: his expression's always like that. It's when it isn't that it's strange.

Then Raika did something that surprised me: he walked over to the head of her bed, leaned over, and gave her a kiss on the forehead!

Then he just walked off.

I smiled after him. _If I had to guess, _he's_ been crazy about _her.

* * *

**A/N: I had to throw that in somewhere before she woke up.**


	23. Two Victories At Once!

_**Two Victories At Once!**_

* * *

**Avatar**

I went back to the Net after we got to the hospital.

Yai…was acting like a brat.

Then Doctor Regal started capturing millions of Net Navis again, and Rush went missing – captured by Bubbleman!

Roll took us to where she saw him last. Gutsman broke a hole in the door – I could have done the same thing, but he was better built for smashing things – and we all went through. (Naturally, I had to duck to get through every opening.)

We finally found the source: Shademan! Bubbleman bragged that Shademan wanted to use Rush's program to get to the real world!

As the data swarmed down towards him from poor Rush, I lifted my queue and focused. _I'll only have one shot at this…_

Most of the data went to Shademan's Rush Synchro Chip. But a tiny bit of the data redirected to my braid, like I'd hoped it would.

"Uh, Avatar? What did you do?" Megaman asked. "Will that stop him from using his chip?"

"No, but I'll be able to follow him!"

While Shademan used his chip, I focused on where I wanted to go: back to Cylab!

* * *

I got there about thirty seconds after he did – by then, though, he'd already left!

"What did he mean, 'something more important'?" Lan was asking.

I sighed. That had taken more out of me than when I was actually linked with Rush. "Probably something bad."

* * *

Well…it depended on my definition of "bad." He was targeting Doctor Regal. What was it with bad guys and fighting each other?

Famous was worried about what would happen once Shademan was done with Doctor Regal. I shrugged, trying to act cool even though I was sitting down. "I'll probably have to fight him, I guess."

"Are you going back to the net?" Lan asked.

"No. Not until we've gotten Rush back, or unless I have no other choice. It's too hard to do anything without him."

* * *

Going outside helped with the size problem, but I doubted that their Dimensional Area would hold him for long. I was half-right. Lan went charging in with his Synchro Chip. Still, nothing he was doing was working! Chaud showed up with a bandaged head and tried to help, but Lan still went down and so did the Dimensional Area. I jumped in and grabbed Lan, catching his PET with my tail and pulling them both away from Shademan, but Doctor Regal called and made a worldwide Dimensional Area!

* * *

Lan was determined to help again. We found the tower in time to witness Shademan leaping for Doctor Regal!

I could hear all the cries of the captured Net Navis inside the generators, and then Doctor Regal Cross-Fused!

Shademan threw a train, and it didn't work, and then Doctor Regal deleted Shademan!

The two boys got into a truck and drove off, and I ran to keep up with the truck.

* * *

We were trying to figure out how best to take on Doctor Regal. The tower didn't seem to have any weak spots, according to Search-Soul-Megaman.

Our idea was to destroy the power core, but the firewall around it was impossible. Then Regal made copies of Laserman to attack Sharo and Brightland as well.

Laserman bragged to us for a while, and then he went around on a rampage.

"There has to be _something_ we can do!" Lan protested.

Doctor Hikari had an idea, but then a flunkie told us that Laserman was coming here!

Lan tore out to buy time for his dad. I got up and crawled a couple paces. Then I sat down again. "You know what? Getting _in_ here was hard enough; I think I'll just sit here and wait."

And after Doctor Hikari figured out why his plan wasn't working, Raika came in with a plan!

He was going to send Searchman in to fire off a tracker, which would help us pierce the firewall!

"Won't that bring out a lot of viruses?"

"That's what I thought too, sir, so I reluctantly requested the help of civilians. I think you might recognize them."

I wished Will was awake right now to hear this.

He was right, we did recognize them: Lan's friends!

And after every single one of them made a "let's get to it" type sentence, Raika cleared his throat and remarked, "Well, that's for the Chief to decide."

_Will, I wish you could hear Raika right now._

"Welcome aboard." The Chief sounded vaguely relieved.

Then Raika looked at me. "I know Rush isn't here, but do you think you could get back into the Net in order to help out?"

"Like I told them, it's hard, but I'll try." I looked at Doctor Hikari. "Could I borrow a cable?"

"Okay." He passed one to me, and I queue-linked to the end of it. Focusing, I managed to channel myself back into the net. It hurt, but I made it.

Yai held up a bag. "I got Will's battle chips!"

"Thanks, Yai." I idly wondered who'd download them into my PET.

We all, thanks to Searchman, made it through the firewall and immediately saw a whole army's worth of viruses!

My Boomerang Bola could only do so much, and the same went for everyone. Then Thunderman showed up to give us an extra boost, and Bubbleman of all people came to help, along with JunkDataman!

Finally, we got Searchman to the Power Core, and two things happened at once: he destroyed the power core, and Lan destroyed Doctor Regal!

I was so excited that I jumped over to Searchman and gave him a kiss!

* * *

And then I got another surprise. I went to the hospital computers to check on Will, expecting no change. I was just looking through the screen at her. And then suddenly her eyes flicked open!

* * *

**A/N: Happy ending, right? Well...not quite...**


	24. Recovery?

**_Recovery?_**

* * *

"Hey! You're awake!"

I slowly moved my eyes about the room. Nothing was familiar except an excited blue face in a computer screen. "Hey, Avatar."

Then a man in a white coat came in. "How are you feeling?"

I lay there quietly for a minute, thinking about that. How did I feel? Well…rather like something was missing, actually. I just couldn't figure out what. What I actually said was, "Okay, I guess."

"Now, I must ask you this, even if it seems silly to you: do you remember your name?"

And _that_ was when I realized what was missing – my memories! I remembered Avatar's name, and how she connected to me, but that was – no, that _wasn't_ quite it.

"My name's…Will. I…don't remember my address."

Will. Yeah, that felt _right_, but it also felt incomplete; like it wasn't my full name.

Glancing at Avatar told me that even more: she looked stricken, horrified, and sad all at once.

"You've got amnesia," the doctor sounded kind of resigned. "Well, there's not much we can do about it except expose you to the things you were familiar with before your bump on the head and hope some memories come back. Avatar, do you think you can help her with that?"

"Well…it'll be hard for me, whether or not I come to the real world. But I can try my best."

_Huh? She can come to the real world?_

"All right. Now, here's a little of what happened to you: you received a serious injury across your chest, and it's still healing, so you need to be careful."

"I _thought_ my chest felt weird," I remarked, carefully touching along the line that had felt so strange.

"You have mostly recovered from your concussion – aside from the amnesia, of course – but you might feel a little dizzy when you first stand up, if you choose to do so now. Is there anything you need?"

_Besides my memories?_ I considered. Then my tone went wistful. "Chocolate?"

Avatar laughed. "Even as an amnesiac, you're still a chocoholic!" Her laugh sounded forced, though. I guess my memory absence was bothering her a lot.

**Avatar**

Now I knew what humans meant when they described their hearts sinking, because that's how I was feeling right now. Will was up, but she was…sober, as opposed to perky! Her answer to the doctor was supposed to have a lot more emotion than it actually did!

At least her addiction to chocolate hadn't disappeared. It, along with her remembering my name and her own nickname, kept me reassured that she could eventually get her memories back.

Now I just needed to go warn the others about her amnesia. It could come as a shock if they weren't expecting it.

* * *

**Megaman**

The party hadn't quite ended when Avatar came back.

"Hey, guys." She sounded…kind of numb.

"Hey, what's up?"

She fussed with her tail for a minute. Then she looked up. "Can I get some Net-Ops listening to this, too?"

Well, they started listening.

"The good news is: Will's awake."

We all started cheering!

And Protoman looked extremely relieved. "I was worried I might have killed her, honestly."

Then Roll stared up at her. "Come on; give us the rest of it: what's the _bad_ news?"

She sighed. "The _bad_ news is: she's got amnesia."

That brought silence. And into that silence, she went on, "She remembers being called Will – which isn't her _full_ name – she remembers _my_ name, and she remembers that she loves chocolate, but nothing else! At least, I _think_ it's nothing else. She'll have to show more signs of recognizing stuff before I'll commit to more. And…" She looked really sad. "It's like her entire personality has been erased! She's acting…she's been acting more like Chaud than like herself, or like Raika before he started relaxing – except she seems more stressed, even though she just woke up."

"She doesn't remember who she is?" Lan repeated.

Avatar shook her head. "I'll want your help – all your help – to try to bring her memories back."

"Sure thing, Avatar!" I answered, shaking her hand.

And all my friends, navi and Net-Op, agreed.

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_

* * *

**A/N: The sequel is going to be called "...There's a Way". Chapter 1 will be posted 10/29/11. Probably.**


End file.
